University News
A&M System Chancellor Bob McTeer Announces Retirement
After 38 years of public service, including the last two as chancellor of The Texas A&M University System, Chancellor Robert D. McTeer today announced his plans to retire by the end of this year. He became chancellor of The Texas A&M University System on Nov. 4, 2004, after a 36-year career in various leadership positions with the Federal Reserve System, most recently as president and CEO of the Dallas Fed.
Notable among McTeer's accomplishments is the decision to put more emphasis on technology commercialization throughout the A&M System, first by appointing a vice chancellor to lead the effort and elevating the function to the System level, and later by revising the System's tenure policy to take patents and commercialization of research into account in the faculty tenure process.
During McTeer's tenure, the Texas Institute for Genomic Medicine (TIGM) was established, in collaboration with Lexicon Genetics Incorporated, resulting from a $50 million investment from the Texas Enterprise Fund. TIGM is creating the world's largest collection of mouse embryonic stem cells to accelerate the pace of medical discoveries and foster the development of the biotechnology industry in Texas. TIGM facilities are under construction in College Station and Houston.
McTeer also was instrumental in ensuring that funding was secured which allowed the Rangel College of Pharmacy at the Texas A&M Health Science Center on the campus of Texas A&M-Kingsville to open as scheduled this fall.
As far as what is ahead for McTeer, he said he hopes to utilize his background and experience on corporate boards and perhaps on the speaking circuit. Anticipating more travel, he and his wife, Suzanne, will move to the Dallas area.
The A&M System Board of Regents, which meets Sept. 21-22 in College Station, will decide on a plan of action for choosing McTeer's successor at that meeting.
[ FYI Index ]
Wanda E. Ward Named Acting Head of NSF's Education Directorate
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has named Wanda E. Ward acting assistant director for its Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR). With over 14 years of NSF experience, Ward brings dedicated leadership to EHR and its mission to achieve excellence in U.S. science, technology, engineering and mathematics education.
During her tenure at NSF, Ward has served in a number of science and engineering policy, planning and program capacities in both EHR and the Office of the Director. Ward serves as deputy assistant director for NSF's Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). In SBE, Ward provided critical leadership for development of several NSF-wide activities, including the Human and Social Dynamics priority area, the Science of Learning Centers program, Cyberinfrastructure and the Social Sciences, and the ADVANCE program.She also directed the launch and development of a major activity in SBE to broaden participation through strategic, regional alliances among the top 25 institutional producers of underrepresented minorities at the B.S. and Ph.D. levels. These endeavors led her to forge key international research and workforce development collaborations in both developed and developing nations.
Ward has also served on the President's National Science and Technology Council subcommittees and interagency working groups in the areas of science education and workforce development, and the social, behavioral and economic sciences.
Prior to joining NSF, Ward was an associate professor of psychology and founding director of the Center for Research on Multi-Ethnic Education at the University of Oklahoma, Norman. She has also held visiting academic appointments at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Johns Hopkins University. She received a B.A. in psychology as well as the Afro-American Studies Certificate from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University.
Ward was awarded a Ford Foundation Fellowship and the 2005 American Psychological Association (APA) Presidential Citation, the most distinguished honor given by the APA president. The APA award recognized her steadfast support of the advancement of behavioral science and her to devotion to enhancing the diversity of the science and engineering workforce.
Ward, who assumed her position as acting head of EHR on Aug. 18, 2006, manages an annual budget of approximately $800 million.
[ FYI Index ]
Yudof Announces Appointment of Vice Chancellor for Strategic Management
Geri Hockfield Malandra has been appointed to the newly created position of vice chancellor for strategic management in The University of Texas System. The executive appointment, announced August 24 by Chancellor Mark G. Yudof, is effective September 1. Dr. Malandra is currently associate vice chancellor for institutional planning and accountability and interim executive vice chancellor for academic affairs.
In her new role, Malandra will lead and coordinate implementation of the UT System Board of Regents new 10-year strategic plan as well as management planning for the UT System Administration. She led development of the strategic plan, and also is responsible for the creation, implementation and improvements of the system's accountability reports, and ensuring alignment between system-level and campus-level planning efforts.
Before joining the UT System Administration in 2002, Malandra held administrative, policy, and teaching positions in college and central administration at the University of Minnesota where she was the architect of that system's first integrated accountability report. She served as a liaison with other higher education systems in Minnesota, coordinated the expansion of a multi-campus education center in Rochester, Minnesota, established the university's first off-campus technology education center, and directed the office of research development in the College of Liberal Arts.
Malandra holds a bachelor's degree in anthropology and archeology from Carleton College and a master's and doctoral degree in ancient studies from the University of Minnesota.
[ FYI Index ]
Vanderbilt University Wins $10 Million to Study Impact of Performance Incentives in Schools
A new national research and development center has been created at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College of education and human development to answer one of the thorniest questions in education policy-do financial incentives for teachers, administrators and schools affect student achievement?
The new National Center on Performance Incentives was established through a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences.
The new center's first project will examine the effect of student achievement-related bonuses for teachers on individual and institutional behavior and dynamics.
James Guthrie, professor of public policy and education, chair of the Department of Leadership, Policy and Organizations and director of the Peabody Center for Education Policy, is the executive director of the new center. Matthew Springer, research assistant professor of public policy and education, is the center's director.
Vanderbilt University's Peabody College is also home to the National Research and Development Center on School Choice. The new center makes Peabody the only education school in the country to host two national research and development centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences.
Joining with Vanderbilt in the new center's work is The RAND Corporation, a nonprofit public policy research institute based in Santa Monica, Calif. The center is also working closely with Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, the Metropolitan Nashville Public School Board, the Metropolitan Nashville Education Association, Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell, the Nashville Alliance for Public Education and the Tennessee Education Association.
[ FYI Index ]
UCLA Scientist Awarded $7.9 Million for National Study on Alzheimer's
David B. Teplow, Ph.D., professor of neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, was awarded a $7.9-million grant from the National Institute on Aging to lead a national effort to uncover how brain proteins stick together abnormally to cause Alzheimer's. The multidisciplinary project will team experts at Boston University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, UC Santa Barbara and UCLA.
In Alzheimer disease, amyloid proteins clump together to form sticky plaques in the brain, interfering with cells' ability to communicate and eventually causing their death. This disruption results in the progressive memory loss and inability to think that typifies the disorder.
Teplow's team suspects that structural changes to the amyloid proteins make them poisonous and lead to Alzheimer's. The researchers hope to unravel how the proteins form these toxins, and translate their findings into the design and testing of new drugs for Alzheimer's and other devastating neurological disorders caused by abnormal protein folding, including Huntington's, Parkinson's and prion diseases, such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
The multi-site team includes Gal Bitan, Ph.D., assistant professor of neurology at UCLA; George B. Benedek, Ph.D., the Alfred H. Caspary Professor of Physics and Biological Physics at MIT; Michael Bowers, Ph.D., professor of chemistry at UCSB; and H. Eugene Stanley, Ph.D., university professor at Boston University.
[ FYI Index ]
UW Business School Receives $4.5 Million from Former Starbucks CEO
Orin Smith, retired Starbucks president and chief executive officer, has donated $4.5 million to the University of Washington Business School to help fund its new buildings.
Smith, a 1965 graduate of the UW Business School and current advisory board member, said his gift was motivated by his desire to have a real impact on the future of the school.
The new buildings will increase the school's total space by more than 30 percent. They will contain interactive lecture halls, wireless classrooms, computer labs and offices for faculty and staff. The Business School currently occupies five buildings on the UW campus: Balmer, Mackenzie and Lewis halls, the Foster Business Library and the Bank of America Executive Education Center.
The Business School has raised more than $51 million dollars for the new facilities since it began its fundraising efforts in 2002. The university has pledged $40 million toward the $130 million project, set to break ground in 2008. In addition to his most recent gift, last year Smith gave $1 million for the building and $500,000 for student scholarships that help promote access and diversity.
Smith currently serves on the boards of directors for Nike, The Walt Disney Co. and Washington Mutual, as well as a number of non-profit organizations, including Conservation International, Starbucks Foundation and the University of Washington Foundation. He is the chairman of the University of Washington Medicine Board and will become chairman of the University of Washington Foundation in September. He received a master's degree in business administration from Harvard.
[ FYI Index ]
Patricia Gumport Named Stanford's Vice Provost for Graduate Education
Patricia Gumport, a professor of education and the director of the Stanford Institute for Higher Education Research, has been chosen to fill the new position of vice provost for graduate education, Provost John Etchemendy announced Thursday, Aug. 24. Gumport will assume the new post on Jan. 1, 2007.
In recent years, oversight for graduate education has been part of the portfolio of the vice provost and dean of research and graduate policy. The creation of the new position was one of the main recommendations in the report of the Commission on Graduate Education in December 2005. The commission assessed the state of graduate education at the university and suggested reforms to enhance the graduate student experience at Stanford.
Gumport said she considered it an honor to serve in the new position at this point in Stanford's history.
Search committee chair Malcolm Beasley, the Theodore and Sydney Rosenberg Professor of Applied Physics, said Gumport's rare blend of qualities made her a perfect choice for the job.
Deborah Stipek, dean of the School of Education, cited Gumport's rapport with graduate students and familiarity with their issues as a critical asset for the job.
The commission's report envisioned that the vice provost for graduate education would provide academic leadership and resources on several fronts, such as facilitating interaction and innovation in graduate education across the schools, coordinating information on graduate programs, promoting best practices in diversifying the graduate student population and advocating for improvements in a wide range of policies that affect graduate student life. The vice provost will consult with the Committee on Graduate Studies, the Graduate Student Council and the Graduate Life Office, among others, in addition to working closely with faculty members, deans of all the schools and other vice provosts.
The current vice provost and dean of research and graduate policy, Arthur Bienenstock, has agreed to serve in an interim capacity in the new position until Gumport assumes the post. Bienenstock was appointed special assistant to the president for federal research policy when he announced his decision to step down as vice provost and dean.
Gumport's research addresses key changes in the academic landscape and organizational character of American higher education. She holds a doctorate in education and two master's degrees from Stanford-one in education and one in sociology-and a bachelor's degree from Colgate University.
[ FYI Index ]
UCSD Names Prof. Tony Haymet, Distinguished International Researcher and Science Leader, as Vice Chancellor for Marine Sciences
UC San Diego announced the appointment of Dr. A.D.J. "Tony" Haymet as the new Vice Chancellor for Marine Sciences, Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Dean of the Graduate School of Marine Sciences. Dr. Haymet is expected to join UC San Diego in mid-September 2006.
Haymet is a highly distinguished researcher who comes to UC San Diego from his position as the Science and Policy Director and former Chief of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Australia's national science agency. CSIRO is one of the largest and most diverse research agencies in the world. Haymet, who will be a tenured professor of oceanography at Scripps, holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and a Doctor of Science from the University of Sydney.
Between 1981 and 1991, Haymet completed postdoctoral work at Harvard University and taught at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Utah. In 1998, he became a Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry at the University of Houston. Haymet has published more than 160 peer-reviewed scientific articles. In 2003, Haymet was appointed Chief of CSIRO Marine Research, and in July 2005, became Chief of the newly merged CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, with a research portfolio spanning climate change, oceanography, fisheries, marine ecosystem sustainability, aquaculture and urban air quality. He also founded the "Wealth from Oceans" Flagship, one of six outcome-driven and industrially-focused research portfolios set by Australia's national priorities. While teaching at the University of Sydney in the mid-1990s, Haymet worked in Antarctica with former Scripps researcher Professor Art DeVries (University of Illinois).
Haymet's professional associations include his election as incoming chair of the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO); and in Australia as a member of the Board of Directors of the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems (ACE); founding partner of the newly formed Western Australian Marine Science Institution (WAMSI); chair of the Australian Federal Government's Oceans Policy Science Advisory Group and member of the National Ocean Advisory Group and the Marine and Coastal Committee.
[ FYI Index ]
Senior Appointments at HKUST Announced
The Council of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) today announced the following acting appointments to take effect from September 1, 2006:
Prof Roland Chin (currently Vice-President for Research and Development) is appointed Acting Vice-President for Academic Affairs; and Prof Tony Eastham (currently Associate Vice-President for Research and Development) is appointed Acting Vice-President for Research and Development.
Prof Yuk-Shee Chan is to stand down from his current position of Vice-President for Academic Affairs and is appointed Senior Advisor to the President and will continue to serve in his faculty position as Chair Professor of Finance. Prof Chan has earlier accepted the appointment as Lingnan University's next President effective September 2007.
Prof Chin and Prof Eastham will respectively take the helm of the University's Academic Affairs Branch and Research and Development Branch in the interim until a successor to Vice-President for Academic Affairs is appointed.
Prof Chan joined HKUST in 1990 as Deputy Head of Finance and Economics and Professor of Finance. He was appointed the Founding Dean of the HKUST Business School in 1993 and served in that position until 2001, when he was appointed the Vice-President for Academic Affairs of the University.
Prof Roland Chin, a long-serving member of the University, started as a Professor of Computer Science in 1992 and served as Head of the Department from 1996 to 2001. He was then seconded to the Government's Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Inc (ASTRI), where he was Vice President of Information Technology. He took office as Vice-President for Research and Development on June 2003. He is also the Chairman of the Research Grants Council.
Prof Tony Eastham joined HKUST in 1996. Apart from his capacity in the Research and Development Branch, he is also the President and CEO of HKUST R and D Corporation Ltd, which is responsible for commercialization of research. He also serves as Professor of Civil Engineering, and Electronic and Computer Engineering.
