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July 21, 2003 Volume 28, Issue 2 |
The dean of Iowa State University's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has been named to the second-ranking position at Mississippi State, pending state College Board approval.
Dr. Peter W. Rabideau is the university's new provost and vice president for academic affairs. A professor of chemistry, Rabideau earlier served as dean of the College of Basic Sciences at Louisiana State University.
"Dr. Rabideau emerged as the candidate ideally suited for this vital position by virtue of his outstanding credentials as a scholar, his extensive critical experience as an academic dean at two land-grant universities, and his reputation for getting important things done," said MSU President Charles Lee.
At Mississippi State, the provost and vice president for academic affairs is the chief academic officer of the university and the second-ranking institutional executive officer. The position provides leadership for MSU's eight academic colleges, with oversight for academic programs and services, institutional effectiveness of academic programs, and recruitment and development of faculty.
"This position is critical to Mississippi State's goal of becoming a premier undergraduate teaching and research institution," Lee noted. MSU currently enrolls more than 16,600 students and has more than 930 full-time faculty members.
At Iowa State, Rabideau developed the concept for a recently implemented Institute for Science and Society, a partnership between the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the College of Agriculture. The institute studies the impact of science on society and society on the conduct and use of scientific research.
He also developed a new divisional structure for that university's College of Basic Sciences and recruited the leadership team to develop a $10 million endowment campaign for the music and theater department, among other accomplishments.
Rabideau holds a bachelor's degree from Loyola University of Chicago and master's and doctoral degrees from Case Western Reserve University. He a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has held national appointments with the American Chemical Society and the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences.
Rabideau succeeds Dr. George Verrall, who has served in an interim capacity for the past 18 months.