Jón Atli Benediktsson (MS EE’87, PhD EE’90) has reached the academic pinnacle in his Nordic homeland. In April, he was elected rector of the University of Iceland by staff and students. And from Iceland to West Lafayette, Indiana, and back, Benediktsson says his Boilermaker background helped prepare him well to become that man in charge.

The rector role calls for him to be the president of the university and the chair of the university council, which is the university’s governing body. “The rector is the head of the administration and appoints the deans of schools and tenured faculty members,” Benediktsson says. “In many ways it’s similar to being both president and provost of American universities.”

A chance to work in a renowned lab for processing of remote sensing data first drew Benediktsson to Purdue in 1985. He says the Laboratory for Applications of Remote Sensing (LARS) and professors Philip Swain and David Landgrebe, the world’s foremost electrical engineering authorities in image analysis of remote sensing data, provided both a base and mentorship for his doctoral work.

Benediktsson and his wife, Stefania Oskarsdottir (LA’86, MA LA’88, PhD LA’95, all in political science), enrolled in classes and fell relatively easily into campus routines. They played tennis outside the Co-Rec, were Ross-Ade Stadium regulars for the football games, and even once landed in the pages of the Lafayette Journal and Courier — photographed among a jubilant crowd at the Purdue Airport that welcomed back a Boilermaker basketball team after a victory over Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1988. 

With the intention of retiring to Iceland for a tenure track position, Benediktsson says his five years at Purdue groomed him for life as a professor.

With the intention of returning to the University of Iceland (also his alma mater) for a tenure track position, Benediktsson says his five years at Purdue groomed him for life as a professor. “I learned a lot from the outstanding professors, and the courses were very well organized,” says Benediktsson, who became an assistant professor of electrical engineering at the University of Iceland in 1991. “I also developed a few courses at Iceland that were based on the grad courses I took at Purdue.”

Benediktsson made his way through the academic ranks over the last two and half decades at the University of Iceland, the nation’s oldest university, leading several different committees and also serving internationally as president and editor-in-chief for the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society. In addition to his research and teaching duties, he had served as the prorector for Science and Academic Affairs since 2009.

He likens the rector election to a political campaign in many ways. He spoke with local media and met with university staffers, who had 70 percent of the vote, in face-to-face meetings. The students, who had 30 percent of the vote, needed to be contacted through social media and other means. The six-month campaign intensified in April, but Benediktsson enjoyed the process. “I met a lot of people and am very happy with the result,” he says. “Now I’m much better known on campus and in Icelandic society.” 

As for embracing this latest leadership position, Benediktsson says, “I would say it is most important to respect people, listen, and be accountable for all decisions.”