Dr. Terry J. Woychowski speaks to the 2009 College of Engineering First-Year Students Assembly at Rozsa Center

Dr. Terry J. Woychowski

College of Engineering Assembly of First Year Students at the Rozsa Center on Monday, August 31, 2009

Engineering - How Will You Change the World? Speech by Dr. Terry J. Woychowski from Engineering Michigan on Vimeo.

Dr. Terry J. Woychowski addressed the 2009 College of Engineering Assembly of First Year Students at the Rozsa Center on Monday, August 31, 2009.

The title of his address was "Engineering ... How will you change the world?"

Dr. Woychowski is the vice-president of General Motors Global Vehicle Program Management.  He is responsible for the flawless execution of every GM product line globally.

Most recently, Dr. Woychowski was the executive director for the North America Regional Chief Engineers, and the global vehicle chief engineer of GM’s full-size trucks, a position he held since 1998.  His responsibilities included engineering design, development and integration for full-size light-duty and heavy-duty pickups marketed under the Chevrolet and GMC brands and full-size sport utility vehicles marketed under the Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac and Hummer brands.

Dr. Woychowski is General Motors’ key executive liaison with Michigan Technological University in Houghton, MI.  As such, he interacts with the University in recruitment, financial grants, curricular development and special projects that are mutually beneficial to both organizations.  In addition, Dr. Woychowski is a member of the M.T.U. Industrial Advisory Board.

In 2008, Dr. Woychowski was named to the Board of Directors for the Engineering Society of Detroit where he has taken a leadership role in utilizing the resources of the ESD to impact the economic challenges that face the engineering community and financial health of the auto industry and the State of Michigan.  He has participated in the MICHauto activity and other Michigan economic development activities.  He was recently voted President Elect to the Board of Directors, and has also become chairman for the Young Engineers Committee.

Dr. Woychowski initiated the formation of a trilateral partnership with General Motors, Michigan Technological University and the Engineering Society of Detroit to create and offer a tuition free retraining program for displaced engineers in the southeast Michigan area who wish to "retool" themselves to prepare for job opportunities in the areas of advanced propulsion, hybrids and clean transportation.  This fourteen week class was offered in the spring of 2009, with lectures delivered from Michigan Tech faculty, utilizing industry subject matter experts, and offering hands on experience in advanced propulsion laboratory's and at the General Motors Proving Ground.

Dr. Woychowski and his immediate family founded the Woychowski Charitable Foundation, and have sponsored a Senior Design Team at Michigan Technological University to design and build a "Human Powered Hammer Mill." Dr. Woychowski has formed a partnership with the World Hope organization to manufacture these human powered grain processors and to deploy them in sub Saharan Africa to assist local villages in the preparation of their food staple at a much lower cost and with much less expenditure of energy and the diversion of children from important school work as they must today.  In July 2009, five of the mills were distributed to several African villages for testing.

Dr. Woychowski joined GM in 1978, as an engineer in the noise and vibration laboratory at GM's Milford Proving Ground, responsible for general engine, powertrain and driveline development for cars and trucks.  He was appointed development engineer for noise/vibration/harshness (NVH), structure and ride/handling for midsize truck-based vans in 1982. 

In 1985, Dr. Woychowski left GM to become department head and mechanical engineering professor at Pensacola Christian College in Pensacola, FL.  In addition to creating the engineering department, he taught statistics, dynamics, heat transfer, thermodynamics, metallurgy, physics, fluid mechanics and New Testament survey courses at the college.

Dr. Woychowski returned to GM in 1987, as a development engineer at GM's Desert Proving Ground in Mesa, AZ, responsible for chassis and driveline development on all GM trucks.  He was named chassis design release engineer for GM's small pickups and utilities in 1990, and then promoted to engineering group manager for road load simulation in 1992, where he developed and installed a four-corner spindle-coupled dynamometer used for NVH, powertrain and fuel economy development work.  In 1993, Dr. Woychowski was appointed assistant chief engineer for full-size truck development at the proving ground in Milford, MI, which also included responsibility for GM full-size vans and P-model commercial truck chassis.

Dr. Woychowski moved into truck manufacturing in 1996, when he was promoted to area manager of body and paint departments at GM's Pontiac Truck Assembly Plant.  Under his tenure at the plant, J.D. Power and Associates awarded the plant it’s Best in Class Paint award. 

Dr. Woychowski is a four-time recipient of General Motors highest honor, the GM Chairman's Honors, for his leadership in developing and bringing to market the Chevrolet Avalanche and the Hummer H2.  He received GM's North America Achievement of Excellence award for the development of the all-wheel-drive viscous-coupled transfer case in GM's midsize truck-based vans in 1987. 

Dr. Woychowski has been active in civic and volunteer work.  He helped his churches involvement in establishing refugee camps in Albania during the Kosovo conflict in the Balkans.

Dr. Woychowski was born on February 5, 1956 in Bad Axe, MI.  He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Technological University in 1978.  He took post-graduate studies in the pre-medical program at Wayne State University in Detroit from 1980-1981, and attended the Global Executive Development Program at the Duke University School of Business in 1998.  Dr. Woychowski was awarded his Doctorate in Business Management, honorus causa, from Indiana Wesleyan University in December 2003.

In 2007, Dr. Woychowski was inducted into the Michigan Technological University Academy of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Mechanics. The Academy honors distinguished alumni for excellence and leadership in engineering and civic affairs.