Susan Henry is reappointed dean of CALS

By Susan S. Lang

Cornell Provost Biddy Martin has announced the reappointment of Susan A. Henry as the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences in Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), for a five-year term, beginning July 1, 2005.

Henry

"Dean Henry has made significant contributions to the vitality and the academic quality of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and is a valued member of the University's academic leadership," Martin said. "As an accomplished scientist and able administrator, she has set high standards for research, teaching and outreach, and has successfully built strong support for her academic programs. I appreciate her intelligence, dedication and humor."

"I look forward to serving a second term in a position I find so challenging and satisfying," Henry said. "I am continually impressed by the excellence of our faculty, students and staff and the level of enthusiasm of our alumni and stakeholders. And I remain dedicated to supporting the College's leadership role in activities relating to the land grant mission, environmental and applied social sciences and the new life sciences."

Under Henry's leadership, CALS has received accreditation for its undergraduate business program, established new majors in information sciences, environmental engineering and the science of natural and environmental systems and is initiating new programs in viticulture and enology and agricultural science. For each of the last four years, CALS has continued the pace of faculty hires and balanced the budget despite declining state support. Applications and contributions have increased, academic priorities have been redefined, the vision and mission rearticulated, a new Web site launched and administrative services streamlined.

Henry, who became dean in July 2000, maintains an active research program in molecular genetics using yeast as a model system. She served as dean of the Mellon College of Science at Carnegie Mellon from 1991 to 2000, having joined Carnegie Mellon in 1987 as a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, and serving as head of the department from 1987 to 1991. Previously, she was a professor of genetics and molecular biology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She received her B.S. in zoology from the University of Maryland in 1968, and her Ph.D. in genetics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1971.