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Texas A&M University President Elsa Murano on Wednesday named a Purdue University dean to a top spot on her executive team. The announcement was included in a campus briefing on several ongoing personnel searches.
Jeffrey Vitter, the Frederick L. Hovde Dean of the College of Science at Purdue, was selected to serve as Texas A&M's provost and executive vice president for academics, pending approval by the Texas A&M System Board of Regents this month.
Murano also revealed that three candidates had been named in the search for a vice president for research, though just two of the job seekers were identified.
"These are indeed exciting times in Aggieland. I hope you join me in looking forward to the year ahead as we move into the next stage of growth and development at Texas A&M," Murano said in a statement released Wednesday on a university e-mail list.
Vitter was one of two candidates vying for the post last held by David Prior, who left last year to take a higher-level position within the University of Texas System. The other candidate was Robert Newman, dean of humanities and associate vice president for interdisciplinary studies at the University of Utah.
Both were on campus last month for interviews and receptions. Vitter is scheduled to start Aug. 15.
"I have been so impressed by not just the capabilities of people at Texas A&M, but also their engaging spirit and optimism that are going to be great assets for moving the university forward," Vitter said by phone Wednesday. "I'm really looking forward to helping the university come together in a variety of ways -- research, education and service -- so it can be as effective as possible."
The 52-year-old science dean said he was driving from his home office to the Purdue campus late last week when he received a call from his secretary, who told him that she was transferring to him a call from A&M. He was so excited that he pulled over to the side of the road, he said, chuckling.
Vitter accepted the job offer and was back in Aggieland by Sunday -- this time with his wife, Sharon. The pair stayed until Tuesday, he said.
Some of the biggest challenges facing the world -- such as the environment, energy, disease and the information explosion -- will require significant contributions from many fields of study. Vitter said he was eager to tackle those challenges while moving the university forward and building strength across the board.
"It really invigorated me -- all that Texas A&M has already accomplished and the great opportunity there to go further," Vitter said. "We as a university can have a great impact on the state, the nation and the world."
Murano was on vacation this week and could not be reached for comment. In the e-mailed announcement, she described Vitter as a dynamic leader with a proven record of success who is a perfect fit for the position.
"Dr. Vitter brings vast strategic planning and leadership experience as well as other impressive credentials to our top academic position, and I think it is particularly significant that he comes from a renowned land-grant and research-oriented institution that has many of the same historical roots and core values that have served Texas A&M so well for more than a century," Murano said in the statement.
"Nationally recognized as an outstanding scholar, researcher and teacher, Dr. Vitter's strategic initiatives and accomplishments, including successfully leading major multidisciplinary programs and fundraising efforts, have been many and well-varied throughout his long and distinguished academic career."
Murano also noted that Mays Business School Dean Jerry Strawser, who has spent the past year as interim provost, would return to his original post.
The statement provided Wednesday by Murano also detailed the status of the search for a vice president for research, for which three candidates have been selected.
Two of the finalists are Charles Louis, vice chancellor for research and professor of cell biology at the University of California, Riverside, and Martin Philbert, professor and senior associate dean for research at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
Louis will be on campus early for interviews and a public reception Monday. A reception for Philbert is scheduled for Thursday.
The name of the third candidate was not released Wednesday. Search Committee Chair and A&M professor Joanne Lupton said policy dictates that a candidate's name be released only once an on-campus interview has been scheduled.
Because the vice president for research reports directly to the provost, interviews couldn't be scheduled until a new provost was named, Lupton said, adding that administrators still were trying to schedule an interview date for the third candidate.
Richard Ewing oversaw campus research until his resignation last year amid the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigation of A&M's select agent and toxins research. He has since died, and Executive Associate Vice President for Research James Calvin has been serving in the interim.
The search committee began its work in January, shortly after Murano assumed her role as campus president. Working with Dean of Faculties Karan Watson, the 15-member group established a list of eight key "attributes" a candidate should possess.
The ideal vice president should have an outstanding record in research and education as well as administrative leadership in research, broad knowledge of and experience with funding and a commitment to graduate and undergraduate research, Lupton said.
"We worked very hard to develop a list of preferred attributes and indicators of those attributes so that we would evaluate all the candidates against these attributes," Lupton said Wednesday by e-mail.
More than 250 people were contacted by phone or e-mail about the position, which resulted in 23 applications, Lupton said. A search firm hired by the university screened 18 and interviewed 17.
The search committee interviewed seven of the candidates in the pool and recommended four to Murano, who whittled the list to three.
Murano in her e-mail also briefed the campus community on the status of five ongoing personnel searches:
• Vice president for student affairs, a post previously held by Dean Bresciani, who abruptly announced his resignation last week. Murano said she hoped to fill the post by the fall semester.
• College of Architecture dean, a post held by outgoing Tom Regan. Jorge Vanegas, professor and director of the Center for Housing and Urban Development, will take over as interim dean next month. In the fall, a third search will be launched to try to find a permanent replacement.
• College of Geosciences dean, a post held by Björn Kjerfve, who has said would leave in May. Science Dean Joe Newton will chair the search committee tasked with finding a replacement.
• College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences dean, a post held by Richard Adams, who is stepping down. A search committee was formed in March, and Murano said a new dean likely would be in place by the end of the year.
• Vice chancellor and dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences, a post held by Murano until she was tapped this year to serve as president. Murano said that several candidates had been identified for the post and that off-site interviews were under way. She said she hoped to have the position filled by the end of the year.
• Holly Huffman's e-mail address is holly.huffman@theeagle.com.
