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All three candidates will visit campus to participate in public forums.

By University Communications
January 23, 2008

Three finalists have been named for the position of executive vice president and provost at The University of Arizona. The finalists, all accomplished scholars and administrators at leading public research universities, will visit the UA campus beginning next week to participate in public forums.

The finalists are:

• Meredith Hay, vice president for research at the University of Iowa
• Pramod P. Khargonekar, dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Florida
• Robert D. Newman, dean of humanities and associate vice president for interdisciplinary studies at the University of Utah

In April 2007, UA President Robert N. Shelton appointed a 27-member search committee to identify and interview candidates for the position, which is the chief academic and chief operating officer for the University. Vicki Chandler, Regents professor of plant sciences and director of the BIO5 Institute, is serving as chair of the search committee.

“We had a superb pool of candidates, and the search committee has recommended three individuals with tremendous experience and leadership skills,” Shelton said.

Each of the finalists will be making a two-day visit to campus, beginning next week. As part of those campus visits, each candidate will participate in an open forum for the campus community. Each of the forums will be held in the Student Union North Ballroom, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. They will be held on the following dates:

Tuesday, January 29, Meredith Hay
Thursday, January 31, Pramod P. Khargonekar
Monday, February 4, Robert D. Newman

Meredith Hay
Meredith Hay is the vice president for research for the University of Iowa, providing central leadership for all of the university's research, scholarly and creative programs, including its academic medical center.

Hay has worked closely with state legislators and federal representatives, private sector representatives and local community groups to broaden both private and public support for the university. She led a significant reorganization of the University’s economic development efforts, with a focus on improving public access to the university, enhancing its technology licensing and commercialization activities and creating better opportunities for new university-initiated small business start-ups.

In addition to her duties as vice president for research, Hay has continued to sustain a vigorous research program and leads an actively NIH-funded research laboratory. She is internationally known for her research in cardiovascular neurobiology and her current studies on the role of sex and sex differences in the development of hypertension.

Prior to joining the University of Iowa, Hay served as assistant to the vice president for academic affairs at the University of Missouri-System and director of the National Center for Gender Physiology at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

She maintains active participation in the American Physiological Society, the Society for Neuroscience, AAAS, and serves on numerous editorial boards of prestigious scientific journals and grant review panels for the NIH and the National American Heart Association. She serves on advisory committees for NASA, NIH, the AAU and the Federation of Associated Societies for Experimental Biology.

Pramod P. Khargonekar
After holding faculty positions in electrical engineering at the University of Florida and University of Minnesota, Khargonekar joined The University of Michigan in 1989 as professor of electrical engineering and computer science. He became chairman of electrical engineering and computer science in 1997. In 2001, he rejoined the University of Florida as dean of the College of Engineering and Eckis professor of electrical and computer engineering.

Dr. Khargonekar’s research and teaching interests are centered around theory and applications of systems and control. His early work was on mathematical control theory, specifically focusing on robust and H-infinity control problems. During the 1990’s, he worked on a major multidisciplinary project on applications of control and estimation techniques to semiconductor manufacturing. He has supervised 29 doctoral students and has co-authored more than 120 refereed journal publications, 170 conference publications and 2 co-edited books.

During Dr. Khargonekar’s tenure at Michigan, the department expanded computer science activities while enhancing traditional strengths in electrical engineering leading to a computer science degree in the College of Engineering.

Under his leadership as Dean, the College of Engineering at the University of Florida has made significant improvements and the graduate program rankings, which have risen from 35 in 2001 to 26 in 2007. Working with other colleges, a major multidisciplinary initiative, the Nanoscience Institute for Medical and Engineering Technologies, has been established. The college has dramatically improved doctoral productivity – the number of doctoral degrees granted has gone up from 95 to 187 in the last 6 years, The college has recruited more than 90 new faculty members and has made significant strides in improving faculty diversity. Total research expenditures have also grown from $65 million to $108 million.

Dr. Khargonekar is a recipient of the NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, the American Automatic Control Council’s Donald Eckman Award, the IEEE W. R. G. Baker Prize Award, the George Axelby Best Paper Award, the Hugo Schuck ACC Best Paper Award, the Japan Society for Promotion of Science Fellowship and a Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

Robert D. Newman
Robert D. Newman has been dean of the College of Humanities and associate vice president for interdisciplinary studies at the University of Utah since 2001. Under his leadership, development funding to the college has increased by 300 percent average annually over six years and external grant funding has grown by 1,300 percent average annually.

In addition to raising private funds to build a new Humanities building, Newman has raised funds for the most lucratively endowed chair in the university’s history and endowed the new Environmental Humanities program.

He has established several new interdisciplinary and international programs and centers with numerous campus, community, national and international collaborators. In addition a new International Studies program, now the fastest growing non-disciplinary major in the university, the college has created new programs in Latin American Studies, Animation Studies, New Media Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, Documentary Studies, Environmental Humanities, Literacy Studies and Comparative Literature and Culture – as well as new Asia and American West Centers, and a Center for Endangered American Indian Languages (in partnership with the Smithsonian Institute).

Under Newman’s leadership, faculty recruitment, retention, diversity, salaries and research support have been significantly enhanced. An innovative and successful first-generation scholarship campaign also has increased student diversity on campus. The number of undergraduate majors in the college has increased by 10 percent and the number of undergraduate degrees by 15 percent while improving quality, flexibility and advising.

Newman’s scholarship has been focused on James Joyce, 20^th century literature and culture and narrative theory. He has published six books, two of which have been nominated for major national awards, and numerous articles and reviews; and has been the recipient of distinguished teaching awards. He also serves as general editor of the “Cultural Frames, Framing Culture” series published by University of Virginia Press and as executive director of The Human Experience Information Coalition, which is building a comprehensive web-based resource for global human rights communities.

He previously held faculty positions at the University of South Carolina, Texas A&M University and The College of William and Mary.