Dr. Graham Kelly, engineering professor, retires after 38 years of service

Dr. Graham Kelly

Dr. S. Graham Kelly, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, is retiring after 38 years of service to The University of Akron. Dr. Kelly received a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech in 1979, spent three years as an assistant professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering at The University of Notre Dame, and joined UA as an assistant professor of mechanical engineering in 1982.

Besides academic appointments, Dr. Kelly has held a variety of administrative positions. He served as assistant and associate dean of the College of Engineering from 1987 until 1994, assistant and associate provost form 1994 until 2001 and interim dean of engineering from 1998 until 2003. Dr. Kelly always taught at least one course per semester while maintaining these administrative positions.

Dr. Kelly was the recipient of the College of Engineering’s Chemstress Outstanding Teacher Award in 1994 and the Louis A. Hill, Jr. award in 2004. He is the author of the undergraduate texts Mechanical Vibrations: Theory and Applications and System Dynamics and Response and graduate texts Advanced Vibration Analysis and Advanced Engineering Mathematics with Modeling Applications. Dr. Kelly performed fundamental research in vibrations, hydrodynamic stability and applied mathematics.

Dr. Kelly served as president of the local chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He is also a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, The Society for Industrial and Applied Research, The American Physical Society and the honorary societies Tau Beta Pi, Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Xi, and Omicron Delta Kappa.

Read the notes of congratulations from Dr. Kelly's students, friends, and colleagues.