Lori Ploutz-Snyder, a senior scientist with the Universities Space Research Association at the NASA Johnson Space Center, will serve as the next dean of the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology.
Her five-year appointment, approved Thursday by the Board of Regents, is effective July 1.
Ploutz-Snyder also was appointed professor of movement science, with tenure. She replaces Dean Ronald Zernicke, who will step down June 30 after more than six years of service.
“Professor Ploutz-Snyder brings an impressive background, leading research programs in both university and government arenas,” Provost and Executive Vice President Martha E. Pollack says.
“Her experience in international collaboration, and in negotiation and strategic planning position her to guide the School of Kinesiology in the development and support areas of research excellence.”
Ploutz-Snyder currently serves as a lead scientist for the exercise physiology and countermeasures project, at the NASA Johnson Space Center and Universities Space Research Association.
“I am honored to be selected and am very excited to join the University of Michigan community,” says Ploutz-Snyder. “The School of Kinesiology is already extremely successful and I am particularly excited to work with the faculty, staff and students to further develop the school’s collaborations.
“Kinesiology’s diversity of academic programs and faculty expertise is a strength of the school and ideally positions us to pursue unique collaborations including many of the university’s big initiatives.”
In 1996, she joined the faculty of Syracuse University as an assistant professor in the Department of Exercise Science in the School of Education. She rose through the ranks to become a professor in 2008, while serving as the chair of the Department of Exercise Science from 2004-08.
She also was a research professor in physical medicine and rehabilitation in the Medical School at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse.
Ploutz-Snyder has extensive experience as both an undergraduate and graduate teacher and was engaged in critical course and curricular development activities at Syracuse University.
In 2008, she joined the NASA Johnson Space Center and Universities Space Research Association in Houston to lead the research program for exercise physiology and countermeasures.
While in Texas she was appointed as an adjunct professor in the Department of Human Performance at the University of Houston in 2009, and as an adjunct professor in the Division of Endocrinology in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in 2010.
In 2013, she was appointed as a musculoskeletal alterations team leader at the National Space Biomedical Research Institute at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
