Eric Kaler named provost at Stony Brook
Eric W. Kaler
2:45 p.m., Sept. 4, 2007--Eric W. Kaler, dean of UD's College of Engineering and Elizabeth Inez Kelley Professor of Chemical Engineering, has been appointed provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Stony Brook University. He will become the school's ninth provost in October.

In making the announcement today, Stony Brook President Shirley Strum Kenny said, "Eric Kaler is just the right person at just the right time to lead the development and expansion of our academic programs in the 21st century. As a scholar, scientist and administrator, Eric is extremely well-prepared to take on this important role at a world class university."

As the chief academic officer, the provost is responsible for supervising the development of academic programs and curricula, promoting faculty qualityand overseeing all academic units.

"I am extraordinarily excited to take on this challenging position,” Kaler said. "Stony Brook has in a very short time emerged as one of the country's leading research universities, and I look forward to helping that growth continue and accelerate. There are remarkable opportunities that include new undergraduate initiatives, connections to economic growth and work with Brookhaven National Laboratory, among others. I think the combination of opportunities here is a great match with my interests and background, and I also am very pleased to have the chance to work with Shirley Kenny. I am eager to get to work.

"My leadership style has always to been to help get people the resources they need and then to let them work,” he said. "At the same time, I think all administrators should focus on making sure processes are as simple, straightforward, and transparent as they can be. I look forward to working with the department chairs, deans, and other leaders to provide the best platform we can for faculty and student success at Stony Brook.”

Kaler, a chemical engineer whose research has been cited over 6,000 times and earned numerous national awards, has served as dean of UD's College of Engineering since 2000. During his tenure, the number of female faculty increased from four to 15, making it now one of most gender diverse engineering research colleges in the country, and enrollment grew from 900 to 1,200 undergraduate students. Research funding nearly doubled to almost $50 million annually, and he also raised substantial private funds for facilities, equipment and endowed positions in the college.

He came to Delaware in 1989 and chaired the Department of Chemical Engineering from 1996-2000. He received his undergraduate degree from California Institute of Technology in 1978, and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1982.

David Roselle, UD president emeritus, called Kaler an "accomplished scholar and administrator” and said that his legacy at Delaware "is the assistance and guidance he provided to many of his engineering colleagues so that they could succeed.” Roselle added that Kaler's "new colleagues at Stony Brook have every reason to be optimistic about his appointment as provost.”

"Eric and I have worked closely together for nearly 20 years,” Mark Barteau, Robert L. Pigford Chair of Chemical Engineering and former chairperson of UD's chemical engineering department, said. "He has led throughout that time by keeping the focus firmly on whatever we were trying to accomplish, and fostering a strong sense of teamwork among those working with him. Serving as department chair under him was a real pleasure-he wasn't a superior or an adversary, but a colleague in trying to advance the college and the university.”

"Eric Kaler is an outstanding academic leader and an accomplished and experienced administrator,” UD Provost Dan Rich said. "He has all the professional and personal qualities one looks for in a provost. He has an insatiable intellectual curiosity, exceptional problem-solving skills and the analytical ability to engage the full range of complex university issues. He also possesses great interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate effectively with the diverse constituencies of the University.”

In only 50 years, Stony Brook is ranked in the top 2 percent of all universities worldwide by the 2006 London Times Higher Education Supplement. A member of the Association of American Universities, Stony Brook is among the 62 best research institutions in North America. Its faculty and researchers are leaders in national and worldwide projects, including the establishment of a research facility in Turkana Basin in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia, the management of the national parks of Madagascar and the uncovering the causes of lobster mortality in Long Island Sound.

Photo by Duane Perry