Carnegie Mellon University
April 08, 2014

News Brief: Message from President Subra Suresh

Carnegie Mellon University President Subra Suresh sent the following message to the university community today to announce a leadership transition regarding Provost and Executive Vice President Mark Kamlet.

To the Carnegie Mellon Community:

I am writing to announce that CMU Provost and Executive Vice President Mark Kamlet has informed me of his intention to step down from his post and to return to the faculty at the end of this academic year, effective July 1, 2014.  Mark has served the university in these roles with remarkable dedication since August 2000.  He has been a consummate university citizen in taking on numerous assignments in addition to his primary role as the chief academic officer.  I am enormously grateful to him for agreeing to extend his long and devoted service to the university during the past year in order to ensure a smooth transition of leadership during my first year as president. We will have formal and informal opportunities to express our appreciation to Mark before he steps down from his current role.  He plans to take a well-deserved sabbatical prior to returning to his full-time faculty role and he will continue to assist me in key university matters during and following this leadership transition.

In the near term, I will be developing the plans for a national search to identify academic leaders as we examine the roles and responsibilities of the provost and executive vice president.  As is common practice during leadership transitions, we will also have an opportunity to assess the evolution of the university over the past decade or more in light of the current opportunities and challenges faced by the global CMU community.  We will also evaluate various internal and external factors influencing the university and higher education.   As we undertake a national search during the course of the next year, two distinguished CMU faculty members have agreed to serve as interim provost and interim executive vice president.

I am delighted to announce that Nathan Urban, the Dr. Frederick A. Schwertz Distinguished Professor of Life Sciences, and head, Department of Biological Sciences at CMU, will serve as the interim provost, effective July 1, 2014.  Nathan joined CMU as a faculty member in 2002 after four years as a research fellow at the Max-Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, Germany, under the supervision of Nobel Laureate Bert Sakmann.  He obtained his B.S. degree in Neuroscience, Mathematics and Philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh, following which he was selected as a Rhodes Scholar.  This scholarship enabled him to receive additional degrees in Mathematics and Philosophy from Oxford University in England.  He subsequently obtained his Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Pittsburgh.  Dr. Urban, who has led the Department of Biological Sciences for the past three years, was selected by Scientific American in 2005 as one of the 50 leaders in science and technology.

I am also pleased to inform you that John Lehoczky, dean of the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences since 2000, will assume the role of interim executive vice president, effective July 1, 2014.  After receiving his doctoral degree from Stanford University in 1969, John was recruited to the Statistics Department at CMU, which he led as department head from 1984 to 1995.  As dean, he has had a substantial impact on the university through many activities, including his leadership of the Dietrich College's Humanities Initiative, which comprises the Humanities Scholars Program, the Center for the Arts in Society, and the Humanities Center.  Lehoczky has been elected a fellow or a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Statistical Association, the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, and the Institute for Mathematical Sciences.

Please join me in thanking Mark for his significant contributions to the university and in welcoming Nathan and John to their new roles.

With warm wishes,

Subra Suresh, President
Carnegie Mellon University

Related Links: Presidential Communications