Finalists for associate vice provost and dean of the John Martinson Honors College to make on-campus presentations

Four finalists for the position of associate vice provost and dean of the John Martinson Honors College will be on Purdue University’s West Lafayette campus for interviews and public presentations in May and June.

Finalists and their presentation dates are as follows:

Eric Nauman — 9:30-10:30 a.m. May 17, HCRN Room 1066, Honors Hall

Nauman is the Dane A. and Mary Louise Miller Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Cincinnati, associate head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and the director of the Human Injury Research and Regenerative Technologies Laboratory, where he and his students explore the mechanisms by which tissues sustain damage and develop methods to protect, repair and regenerate traumatized organs. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Delaware, and his master’s and PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. He began his teaching career at Tulane University and spent 17 years at Purdue as a professor of mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering and basic medical sciences before joining the faculty at the University of Cincinnati.

Zaryab Iqbal — 9:30-10:30 a.m. May 30, HCRN Room 1066, Honors Hall

Iqbal, associate professor of political science and Jewish studies at Penn State University, received her PhD in political science from Emory University, her MA from the University of Denver and her B.A. (with honors) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Her primary research and teaching interests are in international conflict and security, specifically the consequences of armed conflict and questions related to state failure, political assassinations and human security. Iqbal has served as associate dean of the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State, administrative fellow in the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost at Penn State, vice president of the International Studies Association and program director at the National Science Foundation.

Felisa Higgins — 9:30-10:30 a.m. June 10, HCRN Room 1066, Honors Hall

Higgins is the William A. Donan Professor of Business Administration and associate dean of undergraduate education at Penn State University’s Smeal College of Business. She leads the Office of Undergraduate Education, supporting the academic journeys of nearly 6,000 students. Higgins has been recognized for her outstanding commitment to teaching and learning, including Penn State's universitywide George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2015 and the Smeal College of Business Fred Brand Jr. Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Excellence in 2014. Higgins received a PhD in industrial engineering from Purdue, a master’s in industrial engineering from Florida State University, and a bachelor’s in industrial engineering from Florida A&M University.

Paul Gilmore — 9:30-10:30 a.m. June 11, HCRS Room 1076

Gilmore is a teacher, scholar, and administrator with more than 25 years of experience in higher education. During his time as a professor at Bucknell University and California State University, Long Beach, he established himself as a leading authority on 19th-century American literature and culture, publishing books with Duke University Press (“The Genuine Article: Race, Mass Culture, and American Literary Manhood”) and Stanford University Press (“Aesthetic Materialism: Electricity and American Romanticism”), as well as articles and essays in leading journals and collections. He was the founding Dean of the Honors College at Rutgers-New Brunswick and has served as dean of liberal arts and honors at Long Island University. 

Finalists will make a public 30-minute vision presentation and then take audience questions. 

The search committee is co-chaired by Beth McNeil, dean of Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies, and Beth McCuskey, vice provost for student life. Purdue’s next dean of the Honors College will succeed Jenna Rickus, who has led the college in the interim period following the departure of Rhonda Phillips, who stepped down to become president of Chatham University.