Purdue News

Purdue appoints department heads, administrators

• Miroslaw J. "Mirck" Skibniewski will become assistant executive vice president for academic affairs on July 1. Skibniewski, a professor in the School of Civil Engineering, succeeds Carolyn Woo, who will become a dean at the University of Notre Dame. Skibniewski's responsibilities will include academic planning and technology activities. The appointment was announced by Robert L. Ringel, executive vice president for academic affairs.

  "Dr. Skibniewski's scholarship and leadership are evident in his work for the School of Civil Engineering. As part of the academic affairs team, his innovative spirit will now benefit the entire university," Ringel said. "We are proud to have someone as knowledgeable in technology and accomplished as Dr. Skibniewski serving the students and faculty of Purdue."

  Skibniewski began teaching at Purdue in 1986, the same year he received the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award. He has taught 14 different courses in civil and construction engineering and management and developed one of the first U.S. research programs in construction automation. A 1981 graduate of Warsaw (Poland) Technical University, Skibniewski received his master's and doctoral degrees from Carnegie-Mellon University.

• Dennis R. Depew, director of Purdue's Department of Industrial Technology, has been appointed Excellence 21 coordinator, a job that also had been held by Woo. Depew's appointment is effective immediately. Excellence 21 is the universitywide continuous improvement program. Depew will monitor project progress, coordinate project communication on campus and in the community, and develop strategies for future steps. Depew received his doctorate from Purdue and began teaching at the university in 1987. A native of Tennessee, he received his undergraduate and master's degrees from East Tennessee State University.

• Jeffrey Dyer Armstrong, professor of animal science, has been appointed head of the Department of Animal Sciences. Armstrong succeeds Bud Harmon, who has been head of the department since 1986. Harmon has returned to teaching and research.

  Armstrong received a bachelor's degree in animal science from Murray State University in 1981 and master's and doctoral degrees in physiology from North Carolina State University in 1984 and 1986, respectively.

  Before coming to Purdue in February, Armstrong spent 10 years researching and teaching at N.C. State, where he was a professor of animal science and assistant director of academic programs and director of the Agricultural Institute.

  In addition to other honors and awards at N.C. State, Armstrong was inducted into the Academy of Outstanding Teachers in 1993, was the alumni distinguished professor for undergraduate teaching in 1994-1995, and received the Young Animal Science Award for Research in 1995.

• Carl C. Cowen Jr., Purdue professor of mathematics, has been named head of the Department of Mathematics beginning July 1. Cowen succeeds Leonard Lipshitz, who has been head of the department since 1992. Lipshitz will return to teaching and research.

  Cowen received bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics from Indiana University in 1967 and 1971, respectively, and received a doctoral degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1976. He came to Purdue in 1978 as an assistant professor, and he became a professor in 1989.

  Since 1992, Cowen has served as director of Purdue's Actuarial Science Program. His research interests in mathematics include analytic functions, matrix analysis, and operators on Hilbert Space. In 1985, Cowen received Purdue's School of Science Undergraduate Teaching Award. In 1995, he was honored by the Mathematical Association of America's Indiana Section for Distinguished College or University Teaching. This year, Cowen received the organization's national award, the Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching.

• Andrew S. Hirsch, professor of physics, will be the new head of Purdue's Department of Physics beginning July 1. Hirsch succeeds Arnold Tubis, who has been head of the department since 1989. Tubis will return to teaching and research.

  Hirsch received his bachelor's and doctorate degrees in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He came to Purdue in 1977 as a research associate and became a professor in 1991. Hirsch has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in topics such as electricity and optics, quantum mechanics, nuclear physics, fractals and chaos, and mechanics. His research areas include high-energy physics and the experimental exploration of the fundamental nature of matter.

• Ray Martyn, professor of botany at Texas A&M University, will be the new head of Purdue's Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, effective July 1. Martyn replaces Ron Coolbaugh, head of the department since 1987, who is returning to teaching and research.

  Martyn earned a bachelor's degree in biology and a master's degree in microbiology from Florida Atlantic University in 1969 and 1971, respectively, and received a doctoral degree in plant pathology from the University of Florida in 1977. During 20 years in the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology at Texas A&M, Martyn's research focused on soilborne diseases.

  Martyn received the Texas A&M Distinguished Achievement Award for Teaching in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in 1995, the Outstanding Faculty Achievement Award from the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology in 1994, and the Department of Plant Sciences Outstanding Professor Award in 1979 and 1980. From 1986 to 1997, Martyn participated in more than $1.6 million worth of funded research for the university.

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu

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