| RELATED INFO |
| * Jon Harbor |
August 4, 2008
Purdue administrator, researcher named interim dean of science
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - |
"Jon Harbor has distinguished himself as an outstanding leader, researcher and educator," Woodson said. "We look forward to his continued stewardship as interim dean of science."
Harbor succeeds Jeffrey Vitter, Purdue's Frederick L. Hovde Dean of the College of Science and professor of computer science, who has accepted a post as provost and executive vice president for academics at Texas A&M University. Vitter has been dean since 2002.
Woodson said Purdue will form a committee to conduct a national search for the dean of science.
Harbor, who also is interim director of Discovery Park's Discovery Learning Center, came to Purdue in 2007 from the University of Colorado at Denver, where he had been dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a professor of geography and environmental sciences.
Harbor had previously been a Purdue faculty member, joining the university's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences as an associate professor of environmental geosciences in 1994. In 2000 he was selected for Purdue's top recognition for teaching, the Murphy Teaching Award, and he has published widely in environmental science, glacial geology and education research.
Harbor has served as a Fulbright Senior Scholar in New Zealand and at Purdue has previously held appointments as head of the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, associate dean for research and interim associate dean for graduate education for the College of Science. He also was a founding co-director of the Discovery Learning Center.
Harbor earned a doctoral degree in geological sciences in 1990 from the University of Washington in Seattle. He holds a master's degree in geography from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a bachelor's degree in geography from the University of Cambridge.
The dean oversees Purdue's College of Science's 325 faculty members, 550 staff members, 1,000 graduate students, and 2,800 undergraduate majors, and a total annual budget of $130 million. The dean also is responsible for overseeing activities of the college's seven academic departments: biological sciences, chemistry, computer sciences, earth & atmospheric sciences, mathematics, physics, and statistics. Many programs in the College of Science are ranked within the top 10 nationally.Emil Venere, (765) 494-4709, venere@purdue.edu
Randy Woodson, (765) 494-8392, woodson@purdue.edu
Jon Harbor, (765) 496-1938, jharbor@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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