John L. Hennessy

For other people named John Hennessy, see John Hennessey (disambiguation).

John L. Hennessy
President of Stanford University
In office 2000–2016
Preceded by	Gerhard Casper
Succeeded by	Marc Tessier-Lavigne (designate)
Provost of Stanford University
In office 1999–2000
Preceded by	Condoleezza Rice
Succeeded by	John Etchemendy
Personal details
Born	(1952-09-22) September 22, 1952 Huntington, New York
Citizenship	American
Residence	Lou Henry and Herbert Hoover House, Stanford, California, United States
Alma mater	Stony Brook University (M.S., 1975; Ph.D., 1977) Villanova University (B.S., 1973)
Known for	MIPS Technologies, Atheros Inc.
Awards	IEEE Medal of Honor (2012) Computer History Museum Fellow (2007) National Academy of Engineering Member National Academy of Sciences Member American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow ACM Fellow IEEE Fellow
Website	www.stanford.edu/~hennessy

John Leroy Hennessy (born September 22, 1952) is an American computer scientist, academician, and businessman. Hennessy is one of the founders of MIPS Computer Systems Inc. as well as Atheros and is the tenth President of Stanford University. Hennessy has announced that he will step down in the summer of 2016 and will be replaced as President by Marc Tessier-Lavigne. Marc Andreessen called him "the godfather of Silicon Valley."

Early life and career

Hennessy was raised in Huntington, New York, as one of six children. His father was an aerospace engineer and his mother was a teacher before raising her children.

He earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Villanova University, and his master's degree and Ph.D. in computer science from Stony Brook University. He is married to his high school sweetheart, Andrea Berti.

Hennessy became a Stanford faculty member in 1977. In 1984, he used his sabbatical year to found MIPS Computer Systems Inc. to commercialize his research in RISC processors. In 1987, he became the Willard and Inez Kerr Bell Endowed Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Hennessy served as director of Stanford's Computer System Laboratory (1989–93), a research center run by Stanford's Electrical Engineering and Computer Science departments. He was chair of the Department of Computer Science (1994–96) and Dean of the School of Engineering (1996–99).

In 1999, Stanford President Gerhard Casper appointed Hennessy to succeed Condoleezza Rice as Provost of Stanford University. When Casper stepped down to focus on teaching in 2000, the Stanford Board of Trustees named Hennessy to succeed Casper as president. In 2008, Hennessy earned a salary of $1,091,589 ($702,771 base salary, $259,592 deferred benefits, $129,226 non-tax benefits), the 23rd highest among all American university presidents.

In 1997, he was inducted as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

Hennessy is a board member of Google, Cisco Systems, Atheros Communications, and the Daniel Pearl Foundation.

In 2007, he was made a Fellow of the Computer History Museum "for fundamental contributions to engineering education, advances in computer architecture, and the integration of leading-edge research with education".

On October 14, 2010, Hennessy was presented a khata by the 14th Dalai Lama before His Holiness addressed Maples Pavilion.

In December 2010, Hennessy coauthored an editorial with Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust urging the passage of the DREAM Act; the legislation did not pass the 111th United States Congress.

In 2012, Hennessy was awarded the IEEE Medal of Honor. The IEEE awarded Hennessy their highest recognition "for pioneering the RISC processor architecture and for leadership in computer engineering and higher education". In 2012, Hennessy received an honorary doctor of mathematics degree from the University of Waterloo (Canada), in celebration of his profound contributions to modern computer architecture and to post-secondary education.

In June 2015, Hennessy announced that he would step down as Stanford president in summer 2016.

Research

Hennessy has a history of strong interest and involvement in college-level computer education. He co-authored, with David A. Patterson, two well-known books on computer architecture, Computer Organization and Design: the Hardware/Software Interface and Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, which introduced the DLX RISC architecture. They have been widely used as textbooks for graduate and undergraduate courses since 1990.

Hennessy also contributed to updating Donald Knuth's MIX processor to the MMIX. Both are model computers used in Knuth's classic series, The Art of Computer Programming. MMIX is Knuth's DLX equivalent.

Noted publications

• Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach

External links

• Official Biography from the Office of the President of Stanford University
• The Secret of Silicon Valley, John Hennessy speaks at Stanford
• Interview with John Hennessy
• Interview with John Hennessy, concerning the video game industry (audio and text) - 2009-06-22
• John L. Hennessey Papers

Academic offices
Preceded by Condoleezza Rice	Provost of Stanford University 1999–2000	Succeeded by John Etchemendy
Preceded by Gerhard Casper	President of Stanford University 2000–2016	Succeeded by Marc Tessier-Lavigne