University President and CEO Joel Seligman announced today that Robert Clark, senior vice president for research at the 人妻少妇专区 and dean of the Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, has been named the University鈥檚 10th provost. Clark鈥檚 five-year term as provost has been approved by the Board of Trustees and begins on July 1, 2016.
Clark succeeds Peter Lennie, who will step down as provost in June 2016. Clark will serve in dual roles as provost and senior vice president for research. In 2013, he was named senior vice president for research and since then has served both in this role and as Hajim School dean, a position he has held for the past seven years. He will be stepping down as Hajim School dean.
鈥淏oth as senior vice president for research and dean of the Hajim School, Rob鈥檚 service has been exemplary,鈥� said Seligman.聽 鈥淒uring the past seven years under Rob鈥檚 leadership, the Hajim School has more than doubled undergraduate enrollment while increasing the size of the faculty and significantly increasing the number of students enrolled in master鈥檚 programs.聽 At the start of Rob鈥檚 time as dean, the Hajim School assumed responsibility for computer science.聽 In 2014, Rettner Hall became operational, including a new fabrication facility, computer labs and audio and video recording studios.聽 Wegmans Hall, which will house the Goergen Institute for Data Science, is now under construction and will be dedicated in October 2016.鈥�
鈥淚 know I speak for the entire board in saying that Rob Clark is enthusiastically endorsed to be the University鈥檚 next provost,鈥� said Ed Hajim, chairman of the University’s Board of Trustees. 鈥淗e has long experience in building and bolstering academic and research programs, and he is a very distinguished teacher and researcher, as well. As Hajim School dean, Rob has done an unbelievable job, significantly strengthening the academic quality of the school in a number of strategic areas, and thus increasing both the number and quality of students coming to study at Rochester. All of these attributes and successes translate extremely well into becoming the University鈥檚 next chief academic officer.鈥�
鈥淪erving as the 10th provost at the 人妻少妇专区 is both an honor and a privilege.聽 Every domain of this institution embodies our motto, Meliora, and each day I walk across this campus, I join students, faculty, and staff in pursuit of making the University better today than the day before.聽 I have nearly nine months to spend with many university constituents and our current provost, Peter Lennie, to plan for this transition.聽 During this time, I look forward to learning from our University community what I can do to further enable our mission and advance the momentum and trajectory of this great institution.鈥�
As provost, Clark will assume responsibility for advancing the University鈥檚 academic, teaching and global engagement missions, in addition to accelerating the University鈥檚 progress as an internationally distinguished research institution. The provost additionally provides leadership to select units of the University, including Information Technology, River 人妻少妇专区 Libraries, the Memorial Art Gallery, the 人妻少妇专区 Press, and the University Health Service.
Clark was named interim senior vice president for research in 2012, and accepted the permanent role a year later. The senior vice president of research oversees a portfolio of programs and units鈥攁s well as the University-wide collaboration鈥攖hat make up the research enterprise, including the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, the Sponsored University Research Group, Office of Research Projects Administration, Center for Entrepreneurship, Office of Research Alliances, Office of Human Subjects Protection/Research Subjects Review Board, the URVentures, and the University鈥檚 Health Sciences Center for Computational Innovation (HSCCI). Additionally, the senior vice president manages the University鈥檚 online academic initiatives and the research component of information technology.
As senior vice president for research, Clark has orchestrated a comprehensive review of information technology, supervised efforts to pilot online programs, and helped secure $5 million of support for the HSCCI through the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council. He was instrumental in bringing to the University the Visualization-Innovation-Science-Technology-Application (VISTA) Collaboratory lab, with support from New York State and IBM. The VISTA lab is part of the HSCCI and is a critical asset in the University鈥檚 infrastructure for becoming a leader in the field of data science.
Most recently, Clark has been recognized for his critical role in Rochester becoming the headquarters for the American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics (AIM Photonics), a consortium of universities, companies, and federal agencies joined together for the development of optics-based manufacturing technologies. Rochester was selected to receive this designation and $600 million in federal and state funding based on a winning proposal submitted to the Department of Defense;聽 Clark served as lead coordinator for聽 the 人妻少妇专区 team that created that proposal. He also manages the University鈥檚 leadership role with AIM Photonics and now serves as chairman of the nonprofit institute鈥檚 board of directors.
As Hajim School dean since 2008, Clark has grown and strengthened the faculty, and introduced cross-disciplinary master鈥檚 programs, including the MS in technical entrepreneurship and management in collaboration with the Simon Business School. He also established a Center for Medical Technology Innovation jointly with the School of Medicine and Dentistry with an MS program in biomedical engineering that provides two months of clinical experience for students.
During Clark鈥檚 deanship, the school鈥檚 undergraduate enrollment has increased from 747 students in the 2008鈥�09 academic year to 1,543 in the 2014鈥�15 year. At the same time, the test scores of admitted students also increased.
He also successfully led Hajim鈥檚 ABET accreditation efforts in 2009, and has provided key leadership in the school鈥檚 2016 fundraising campaign goal, which was achieved, ahead of schedule in March of 2015.
Clark joined the University in 2008 from Duke University, after serving as senior associate dean and dean of the Pratt School of Engineering. His expertise in the science of acoustics and in bionanomanufacturing has led to 130 journal publications and earned him awards including the Lindsey Award of the Acoustical Society of America, the National Science Foundation Career Program Award, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, and the NASA Group Achievement Award. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Acoustical Society of America, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He holds bachelor鈥檚, master鈥檚, and doctoral degrees from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
