UpDate - Vol. 13, No. 24, Page 1
March 18, 1994
Wyoming research v.p. final provost candidate

     Derek J. Hodgson, vice president for research and professor of
chemistry at the University of Wyoming, will visit the University of
Delaware campus next week, as the third finalist for the position of
University Provost.
     Hodgson will be in Newark Monday and Tuesday, March 21 and 22, meeting
with a wide range of University constituencies, including faculty, staff
and students.
     In his current position, Hodgson, 51, manages a biennial budget of
approximately $60 million. During his tenure, external funding has reached
a new record level.
     Before assuming his current post, he was head of the Department of
Chemistry at Wyoming from 1987-90, a period when the number of refereed
publications from the department doubled, the number of external
presentations by faculty doubled and the grant revenues to the department
tripled.
     Hodgson currently chairs the Board of Directors of the University of
Wyoming Research Corp. and the state's EPSCoR Coordinating Committee.
EPSCoR is a federal program designed to increase the research
competitiveness of 19 states. In this capacity, Hodgson has worked to
increase the numbers of Wyoming's minority students choosing to attend
institutions of higher education.
     He has also chaired a committee to establish a new and highly
innovative School of Natural and Environmental Resources.
     From 1969-87, Hodgson served on the faculty of the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he rose to the rank of professor in 1977. In
1985, he received the Tanner Award for Excellence in Teaching there.
     At UNC, he also served as equal employment opportunity officer; for
five years was director of graduate studies in chemistry; and for two years
was vice chairperson of the chemistry department.
     Hodgson's research in the areas of synthesis and design of
electrocatalytic manganese clusters and of metal peptide interactions has
brought him international recognition, including being named a visiting
scholar of the National Science Council in Taiwan, a distinguished visiting
professor at the National Defense Academy of Japan, a visiting scientist at
the University of Oxford and the University of Auckland and distinguished
visiting professor at the University of Copenhagen.
     In 1993, he chaired an advisory group to University College in Dublin,
Ireland, and he is currently on the three-person advisory board of a
private college in Bangalore, India.
     In the American scientific community, he has served on three National
Science Foundation panels, chairs a committee of the Council for Chemical
Research and serves on the education committee of Associated Western
Universities.
     Hodgson is the author or co-author of some 235 publications, and he
currently is principal investigator or co-principal investigator for grants
in excess of $5.8 million.
     A native of Watford, England, he received his bachelor's degree from
Harvard University and his master's and doctoral degrees from Northwestern
University.
     For interested persons, Hodgson's complete resume is on-line through
UDiscover!, is in the reserve room of the Morris Library and is available
for review in academic deans' offices.
     The other two finalists for the position are Anne H. Hopkins, vice
president for arts, sciences and engineering and professor of political
science at the University of Minnesota, and Melvyn D. Schiavelli,
Chancellor Professor of Chemistry and former provost at the College of
William and Mary.
     After reviewing the finalists' visits and considering feedback from
members of the campus community, the 17-member search committee will make
its recommendation for provost to President David P. Roselle, according to
Daniel Rich, urban affairs and public policy, who serves as search
committee chairperson.
     Rich encourages members of the campus community who meet the
candidates to send their comments to the search committee or to Roselle,
preferably via e-mail.
     As the University's chief academic officer, the provost reports to the
president and provides academic leadership for 10 colleges as well as
research, extension programs, graduate studies, continuing education, the
library, international programs, and several interdisciplinary research
centers and academic support units.
     The position requires an ability to manage a complex academic
enterprise, the interpersonal skills to provide leadership in a diversified
University setting and the experience and commitment to facilitate
programmatic goals, including experience in sponsored programs and fund
raising. Candidates also must have a record of instructional and scholarly
accomplishments and be qualified for a senior, tenured appointment in an
academic department.
     More than 175 nominations were received for the provost's position,
Rich said. Nominations were sought from the campus community, and national
advertising was placed in The Chronicle of Higher Education and Black
Issues in Higher Education. Letters requesting nominations also were sent
to presidents of institutions in the National Association of State
Universities and Land-Grant Colleges and the American Association of
Universities, as well as to more than 200 academic deans across the
country.
     A substantive review of the applications began in November, Rich said,
and it is hoped that the search process will be completed and the
successful applicant will assume the post of provost about July 1.
     Richard B. Murray, professor of physics and astronomy, currently
serves as interim provost. He replaced R. Byron Pipes, who left the
University last spring to assume the presidency of Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute in Troy, N.Y.
     Members of the provost's search committee are Pamela Beeman, nursing;
John Edward Burke, Delaware Undergraduate Student Congress; John
Burmeister, chemistry and biochemistry; Maxine Colm, employee relations;
Katherine S. Conway-Turner, individual and family studies; Joan DelFattore,
English; J. Robert R. Harrison, treasurer; Saundra Jenkins, graduate
student; Edgar Johnson, intercollegiate athletics; Peter Kolchin, history;
Kenneth Lewis, economics; Kenneth Lomax, agricultural engineering; Carole
Marks, Black American Studies; Stanley Sandler, chemical engineering;
William B. Stanley, educational development; and Carolyn Thoroughgood,
marine studies.