Engineering dean Allen Soyster will be the next president of the 20,000-member Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE). He takes office in June 2005.

Dean of engineering since 1997, Soyster has been a member of IIE for more than thirty years. His elevation is expected to bring broader notice to Northeastern’s engineering program.

Soyster earned a PhD in operations research from Carnegie Mellon University. He has taught at Pennsylvania State, Temple, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and worked for the Federal Energy Administration, forerunner of the U.S. Department of Energy.

Sociology professor Arnold Arluke has been named a Human Hero by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Arluke studies the connection between violent criminal behavior and cruelty to animals. His study “The Relationship of Animal Abuse to Violence and Other Forms of Anti-Social Behavior,” conducted with fellow sociology professor Jack Levin, is a standard in law enforcement. Arluke’s new book, Brute Force, looks at officers who enforce anti–animal cruelty laws.

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