Provost announces leadership updates

Professor Beth McNeil will return to the faculty beginning in January after five years of exceptional service to Purdue Libraries.

The Esther Ellis Norton Professor of Library Science, McNeil has served as dean since 2019, returning to Purdue from Iowa State University, where she was dean of library services and professor. She previously was Purdue Libraries’ associate dean for academic affairs and associate dean for information resources and scholarly communication. McNeil is recognized nationally as a leading figure and currently serves as president of the Association of College and Research Libraries and as a member of the Academic Libraries of Indiana board. She is the author of several books and journal articles on library management, supervision and human resources-related topics.

Sunil Prabhakar, vice provost for faculty affairs, will serve as the interim leader of Purdue Libraries, with a search for a new leader anticipated to commence in due course. Professor Prabhakar served as head of the Department of Computer Science during its time as a Purdue Move and was inaugural director of Purdue’s Integrative Data Science Initiative in 2019-20. His interests and expertise in data, data science and data literacy proved indispensable in his earlier service on the search advisory committee that brought McNeil back to Purdue.

Professor Haley Oliver has been named vice provost for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, following six months of interim service marked by notable achievements, such as increasing the flexibility of fellowship funding for PhD student recruitment and launching the Future Faculty Boot Camp to help Purdue students and postdocs navigate academic career paths at leading institutions. Haley leads ongoing efforts in West Lafayette and Indianapolis to amplify and accelerate the success of all of Purdue’s many graduate students, professional students and postdoctoral scholars.

A professor of food science, Oliver joined the provost’s office after serving in the College of Agriculture as its assistant dean of online programs. She continues to serve as director of Purdue’s Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Safety that was recently extended for five years and an additional $10 million in funding. She is a senior research fellow at the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue and a Showalter Faculty Scholar.