Welcome to a new academic year at Indiana University. The fall semester brings important and exciting changes to the IU Research office. I am delighted to announce five leadership appointments in Research.
Brea Perry, professor of sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences, Allen D. and Polly S. Grimshaw Professor of Sociology and associate director of the Irsay Family Research Institute, will serve as interim associate vice president for research and interim vice provost for research, replacing Jeff Zaleski, who returned to full-time teaching and research as a provost professor in the Chemistry Department. Brea has served as associate vice provost for social sciences since February 2020. In her new role, she will work with Provost and Executive Vice President Rahul Shrivastav and me, together with colleagues from across the Bloomington campus, to help advance researchers and research on the Bloomington campus. Rahul and I will work with the Bloomington Faculty Council to announce a search committee later this fall.
Marc S. Mendonca will serve as interim associate vice president for research and interim vice chancellor for research, replacing Janice Blum, who stepped down to assume a larger leadership role in the Graduate School. Marc has served as associate vice chancellor for research at IUPUI since April 2020. He is a professor of radiation oncology and medical and molecular genetics, as well as director of radiation and cancer biology at the School of Medicine. He will be working with Interim Chancellor and Executive Vice President Andy Klein, me and colleagues from across the Indianapolis campus to facilitate and expand research, while also helping to implement the recently announced restructuring of the campus. Andy and I will work with the Indianapolis Faculty Council to announce a search committee later this fall.
Kay Connelly, provost professor of informatics and, until recently, associate dean for research at the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, will serve as interim associate vice president for research development, replacing Kelly Kish, who left IU in August to become associate chancellor of the University of California San Diego. Kay came to IU in 2001 and is a nationally known researcher focused on the intersection of mobile and pervasive computing and health care. Kay is the first faculty member to serve as associate vice president for research development and her appointment reflects an expanded, integrated approach to this critical area. A search in cooperation with the University Faculty Council will begin later this fall.
Ed Dallis-Comentale, professor of English, will serve as strategic advisor to the vice president for research for the arts and humanities and continue as director of the Arts and Humanities Council for IU Bloomington. These are key positions with overlapping responsibilities working closely across the university and the Bloomington campus to advance the work of arts and humanities faculty. Ed will continue to advance IU’s many arts and humanities programs, including the new Arts and Humanities Presidential Fellows, and help coordinate and expand arts and humanities programming and events.
Patricia Muller, senior research scientist, will serve as interim director of the newly integrated proposal development services assisting faculty on all campuses. Patty is also director of the Center for Evaluation, Policy and Research and has been principal investigator and project director on more than $25 million in funded research and evaluation from more than 80 grants and contracts at the state, national and international levels. As interim director she is working to integrate and expand proposal development services to serve key strategic needs of faculty and other researchers.
These five colleagues bring not only great skill and vision to their appointments, but also continuity and experience. They will be key partners as we work together to support research and researchers. I am grateful to each of them. I hope you won’t hesitate to reach out to them, other members of the Research staff or to me at any time with suggestions, questions or requests for assistance.
Fred H. Cate is IU Vice President for Research, Distinguished Professor and C. Ben Dutton Professor of Law in the Maurer School of Law.
