Dr. Tom Harrison (left) talks with Dean Chen about the solar car student project outside the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, circa 1990s.
Thomas Harrison, Ph.D. passed away on the morning of Dec. 17, 2018 in Tallahassee. Dr. Harrison was an electrical engineering professor at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and was the chair of the electrical and computer engineering department from 1988 to 1996. Before joining academia, he was an engineer at IBM.
Simon Foo, Ph.D., Harrison's colleague in the department and also a former chair, said of him:
"Tom was my boss and role model when I joined the department in 1988. He was the epitome of an IBMer and an engineer! Tom was passionate about excellence in teaching and he always pushed his students to higher standards. Even though he was a "tough" teacher, the students loved him. On the personal side, Tom was also a caring human being and a fatherly figure to many here, including me. He will be surely missed."
Harrison is survived by his wife, Carol, and family. We are saddened by this news of losing a respected, longtime member of our faculty.