University names new Biological Sciences Dean

Executive Vice President and Provost Edward J. Ray has recommended to the president the appointment of Joan M. Herbers as dean of Ohio State’s College of Biological Sciences, effective Sept. 1, 2002, through June 30, 2007. Ohio State President William E. Kirwan will ask the university’s Board of Trustees to approve the appointment at its June 7 meeting.

Herbers has served as chair of the Department of Biology at Colorado State University for the past nine years. Prior to that, she was associate dean of the graduate school and professor of zoology at the University of Vermont. She has been a visiting scientist at the University of Edinburgh, honorary visiting fellow at the University of New South Wales, as well as Michener Lecturer at the University of Kansas, and the recipient of career advancement and postdoctoral fellowship awards from the National Science Foundation.

Herbers’ research, which has been supported by numerous grants from the National Science Foundation, focuses on the evolution of social organization, and her primary teaching areas are animal behavior, ecology, and evolution. She also teaches a class on biology for poets. She received her Ph.D. and master’s from Northwestern University, and holds a bachelor of science degree from the University of Dayton.

The Office of Academic Affairs conducted a national search to seek applications for the dean position. “The combination of Dr. Herbers’ administrative experience and strong record of research set her apart from other applicants,” Ray said.

Under her leadership at Colorado State, the Department of Biology helped establish a Center for the Life Sciences, reformed the university’s life sciences core curriculum, renovated research space, and garnered state funds for a new instructional laboratory facility. “With these credentials, I am convinced that Dr. Herbers is the right person to provide the leadership necessary to advance the college’s ambitious agenda as part of the university’s Academic Plan,” Ray said.

Herbers said that Ohio State enjoys an excellent reputation in the life sciences. “This opportunity to work with the faculty in the college and to collaborate with the College of Medicine and Public Health, as well as the other life science units on campus, is extremely attractive,” she said.

The provost recently announced the creation of an ad hoc committee to examine the configuration of Ohio State’s colleges of arts and sciences to determine whether the colleges are managed in ways that help strengthen the university’s national standing in those core disciplines. According to Ray, this appointment will not affect these plans and the review is ongoing.