14
September
2010
|
18:00 PM
America/New_York

Sorensen named senior vice president for development

The Ohio State University has named a new chief of fundraising. Andrew A. Sorensen, who has served as president of two universities and chief academic officer of another, will lead Ohio State’s development and fundraising efforts and initiatives. Pending approval of the university Board of Trustees, his appointment as senior vice president for University Development is effective Oct. 5.

Sorensen joins Ohio State from the Institute for the Advancement of Health Care, a partnership between the University of South Carolina and the Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center, where he has served as president since 2008. Prior to joining the IAHC as president, he was president of the University of South Carolina and the University of Alabama.

He replaces Peter Weiler who recently announced he was leaving the university for a position at the University of New Hampshire and to be closer to his East Coast family.

Sorensen will lead Ohio State’s fundraising efforts, including the upcoming major university-wide fundraising campaign. He also will serve as president of The Ohio State University Foundation.

“Dr. Sorensen is one of the country’s most senior leaders in higher education, and we are remarkably fortunate to have attracted him to lead the University’s comprehensive development efforts,” said E. Gordon Gee, president of Ohio State. “Andy's experience, wisdom, and strategic vision will be enormously valuable in engaging alumni and friends in new ways to secure a strong financial foundation for the work of our students, faculty, and staff.”

Sorensen began his career in higher education administration in 1983 as dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. In 1986 he was named executive director of the AIDS Institute at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. In 1990 he joined the University of Florida as provost and vice president for academic affairs. He was named president of the University of Alabama in 1996, and president of the University of South Carolina (USC) in 2002.

As president of USC, he was praised as a bridge builder, forging new relationships with sister research institutions across the state. He also was instrumental in creating Innovista, a research district/residential community in Columbia made possible by the university, state and local government, and the business and economic development community.

He has also held concurrent academic appointments at each institution: as professor of public health at University of Massachusetts at Amherst, professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins University, professor of health policy and epidemiology at the University of Florida and University of Alabama, and professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at University of South Carolina. He is currently Distinguished Professor of the University and professor of medicine at USC.

Sorensen holds a bachelor’s degree in ethics and master’s and doctoral degrees in medical sociology from Yale University. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree in public health from the University of Michigan.