Frederick C. Neidhardt, associate dean for faculty affairs at the Medical School, has been appointed associate vice president for research, effective Oct. 1 for a five-year term.
In announcing the appointment, Vice President for Research Homer C. Neal said: “Given Prof. Neidhardt’s superlative understanding of research issues in the contemporary University, his wealth of administrative and teaching experience, and his national stature as an educator and scholar, we believe his appointment as associate vice president will contribute greatly to the Office of the Vice President for Research and the University community.
“The Office of the Vice President for Research has a broad mission that embraces a wide range of challenging issues. I am delighted that a scholar of Dr. Neidhardt’s stature and accomplishment, who has also served with distinction in a senior administrative position, has elected to join our team.
“I hope his appointment will convey to the faculty and wider community the centrality of scholarship and academic leadership to the administration of the research enterprise at the University.”
Neidhardt holds a B.A. in biology from Kenyon College and his Ph.D. in bacteriology and immunology from Harvard University.
Prior to joining the U-M in 1970, he was professor of biology and associate head, Department of Biological Sciences, at Purdue University. He was chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology here in 1970–92, and was appointed the Frederick C. Novy Distinguished University Professor of Microbiology and Immunology in 1989.
Neidhardt is the recipient of many awards as a scholar, teacher and educational leader. These include the Alexander von Humboldt Award, the Distinguished Faculty Lectureship in Biomedical Research, and honorary doctor of science degrees from both Kenyon and Purdue.
His research has focused on the bacterium Escherichia coli as a paradigm of the bacterial cell in microbiology. His long-range research program involves biochemical identification, genetic mapping and physiological analysis. Neidhardt, Neal noted, “is widely viewed as making a significant contribution to substantive knowledge as well as the development of innovative methodologies. New techniques in genetic research are being applied to discover sets of genes, called regulons, that may be important in understanding global control systems such as the heat shock response.”
Neidhardt’s service activities include membership on a number of Universitywide committees and within the Medical School, where he has been involved in every aspect of education and training.
He was chair of the President’s Advisory Council on a Multicultural University in 1992–93. As assistant and associate dean for faculty affairs at the Medical School, Neal noted, “Neidhardt has been a strong proponent of the Michigan Mandate and greatly respected and admired by his colleagues for his tireless service to the Medical School.”
