Replacements selected for VP positions
Vice president for University Advancement, F. Ross Peterson, and associate vice president of research, Joyce Kinkead, are both stepping down from their current positions before fall of 2011. The two departures are unrelated.
Peterson will begin his new position, special assistant to the president, on April 1. Kinkead will be on sabbatical leave in France for one year, beginning July 1. She will return to the university as a full-time member of faculty in the English department in Fall 2012.
Peterson will be replaced by Annette Herman Harder, current director of the USU Swaner Preserve and EcoCenter in Park City. She will be assuming the role of chief operating officer for advancement. Kinkead will be replaced by Scott Bates, who is currently a professor of psychology.
The vice president for advancement is responsible for alumni relations, public relations and marketing, and all fundraising for the university. Peterson is also in charge of the USU Comprehensive Capital Campaign, a fundraising effort that began in 2007 and aims to raise $400 million dollars before June 30, 2012. These funds have been and will be used for scholarships, endowments and building construction.
“I have tried to reconnect alumni back to the university,” Peterson said of his three years working on the campaign, “I try to get them excited about our amazing current students, remind them of the doors USU opened for them, and get them to share their generosity with the university.”
As assistant to the president, Peterson’s focus will be finishing this campaign. Herman Harder will be in charge of the regular operations in advancement.
“I hope to contribute to the university’s long term success by making these areas highly effective, and really well integrated,” she said, “currently some of the tremendous things we do here at USU are well kept secrets. I want to change that.”
President Stan Albrecht selected her for the position.
As Associate VP of research, Kinkead has been in charge of the undergraduate research program since 2000. As vice president, she contributed to the program by recruiting, retaining and recognizing faculty and student researchers.
“I have had a terrific experience overseeing undergraduate research, taking it from the level I found it and enhancing it,” she said, “In doing so, I’ve worked with amazing students … On the other hand, this is bittersweet, leaving a position that I’ve enjoyed so much.”
She also established and developed the Research Fellows Program, the URCO grant program, and the Research on Capitol Hill event.
“Wherever you look in undergraduate research at Utah State University, Dr. Kinkead’s fingerprints are present,” Bates said.
She said one of her goals was to make sure students at USU regional campuses had access to research opportunities. She said she believes Bates will continue with that goal.
“Scott Bates has a strong reputation on campus as a mentor to undergraduate researchers,” she said. “He not only publishes his own research but also publishes about undergraduate research, one article on working with distance education students.”
Bates is a member of USU’s Honors Advisory Board and the psychology department’s Undergraduate Steering Committee. He has also worked as a mentor for students and has worked closely with a number of students who have received URCO grants. Vice President for Research Brent Miller selected him for the position.
– rouchelle.brockman@aggiemail.usu.edu