Editor’s Note: The following actions were taken by the regents at their March meeting
By Wono Lee
News and Information Services
Administrative Appointments
Administrative appointments approved by the regents at their March 14 meeting included:
Eugene W. Anderson, professor of marketing, will serve as associate dean of the School of Business Administration, effective July 1, 2002–June 30, 2004.
Michael D. Gordon, professor of computer and information systems, will serve as associate dean of the School of Business Administration, effective July 1, 2002–June 30, 2004.
Robert A. Winfield, interim director of the University Health Service, will be director of the Health Service, effective March 18.
Gifts received
The regents formally accepted a total of $10,434,591 in gifts received by the University during February of this year.
The total included $3,948,667 from individuals, $904,343 from corporations, $2,223,198 from foundations and $3,358,383 from associations and others.
Faculty appointments
Faculty appointments, with tenure at the March 14 meeting included:
Daniel J. Clauw, a faculty member at Georgetown University, will be professor of internal medicine, effective April 1.
Alex Potts, a faculty member at the University of Reading, England, will be professor of history of art and chair of the Department of the History of Art, effective Sept. 1.
Endowed professorships
Christophe Pierre, professor of mechanical engineering, will also hold the Stephen P. Timoshenko Collegiate Professorship of Mechanical Engineering, effective March 1, 2002–Feb. 28, 2007. He also serves as associate dean for academic programs and initiatives at the Rackham School of Graduate Studies.
“Prof. Pierre’s research interests include vibrations, structural dynamics and non-linear dynamics, and he is most recognized for pioneering research work on mode localization in disordered periodic structures,” said Stephen W. Director, dean of the College of Engineering. “He has extensively applied his theoretical findings to the study of mistuned and dry-friction damped bladed disks in the turbomachinery industry. Prof. Pierre has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including those for outstanding teaching, research excellence and faculty service. He has published extensively, given numerous invited lectures internationally and is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.”
Five receive emeritus status
Five faculty members were given the emeritus title.
Those retiring are Ruth Barnard, associate professor of nursing; Minor J. Coon, the Victor C. Vaughan Distinguished University Professor of Biological Chemistry and professor of biological chemistry; Jorge J. Gumucio, professor of internal medicine; James Arthur Teeri, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology; William J. Williams, professor of electrical engineering and computer science.
Barnard, who joined the faculty in 1975, “taught undergraduate and graduate courses and served as chair for medical surgical nursing and director of the graduate program in medical surgical nursing until 1988,” the regents said. “She also served the School of Nursing as an academic information specialist. She was a major force, both formally and informally, in the school’s information technology initiative, supporting World Wide Web and computer usage, UMTV evolution, and videotaping of a variety of school activities. Her vision for the school’s moving into the next millennium included using information technology to enhance nursing education.”
Coon, who joined the faculty in 1955, “chaired the Department of Biological Chemistry for 20 years, beginning in 1970. In this capacity, he emphasized the importance of teaching, strengthened the graduate program and recruited outstanding faculty members. For more than 30 years his laboratory has been internationally known for its pioneering research on the mammalian cytochrome P450 enzymes, which are centrally involved in the metabolism of drugs and other foreign compounds, the biosynthesis of steroid hormones, and the activation of environmental carcinogens. His discoveries have led to many honors, including election to the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.”
Gumucio joined the U-M faculty in 1973. “Through diligent research efforts investigating liver cell heterogeneity, Dr. Gumucio received considerable grant funding which supported a well-run laboratory,” the regents noted. “He is a recipient of the Jerome W. Conn Award, which recognizes excellence in research among internal medicine faculty. In addition to being known for his productivity as a researcher, Dr. Gumucio was a respected educator and clinician. Among GI fellows he was known as a premiere teacher who was sought out for his depth of knowledge and ability to translate complicated concepts into clear ideas. Intensely committed to academia, Dr. Gumucio was highly respected as a stringent and articulate defender of the ideals of what an academic medical center should be.”
Teeri joined the U-M faculty in 1987 as professor of biology and director of the Biological Station.
“From 1992 to 1997, he also served as director of the U-M Project for the Integrated Study of Global Change. He was appointed director of the Matthaei Botanical Gardens in 1994 and joined the newly created Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 2001. During his tenure as director of the Biological Station, a large number of grants were obtained to fund facilities improvements and research projects, greatly expanding its stature as both an outstanding educational field station and a leader in ecological research. He maintained an active research program and also coordinated a large number of research teams addressing the response of ecological communities to changes in global climate.”
Williams, who joined the faculty in 1965, is “widely recognized for his seminal contributions to the theory and practice of time-frequency signal analysis,” the regents said. “He has several patents, the most recent awarded in 2001, all in the area of signal processing. He is internationally recognized for his contributions in the development and application of signal processing in biomedical engineering and biology. His methods and algorithms have been used to study such diverse phenomena as whale sounds, epileptic seizures, gear noise and machine tool chatter in manufacturing operations.”
