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Timothy Greene named WMU provost

May 29, 2008

KALAMAZOO--Western Michigan University President John M. Dunn announced today he will appoint Dr. Timothy J. Greene as WMU's new provost and vice president for academic affairs, effective Aug. 1.

Greene, dean of WMU's College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, was one of four finalists named in April in the national search to fill the position that is second in command to WMU's president. His appointment is subject to approval by the WMU Board of Trustees.

"Our campus community came together to thoroughly examine the finalists and provide feedback to me during this critical appointment process," says Dunn. "The caliber of the candidates was extremely impressive, but in the final analysis, Dr. Greene proved to be the right candidate for WMU. His energy, proven leadership abilities, commitment to our values and strong knowledge of our University resonated with members of our faculty, staff and student body. He is well qualified to serve as our provost."

Greene made a public presentation on campus April 25 as the search narrowed to focus on the finalists. During his talk, he stressed the importance of developing strong internal and external partnerships to extend the University's ability to meet its goals and serve the larger community.

"I am honored the president has selected me as WMU's next provost," says Greene. "I am very pleased that the University faculty, staff and students were supportive of my candidacy, and I'm eager to get started in my new role. During the next few months, I will spend a considerable amount of time meeting with faculty, staff and students across the University. Many things drew me to the provost's position, but clearly the most important one was the dedication our faculty and staff have to our students and university."

Greene has been the engineering and applied sciences dean at WMU since April 2005. He came to WMU from the University of Alabama, where he was serving as assistant vice president for research and academic affairs. Prior to accepting that position in 2004, he had served as engineering dean there since 1999.

Earlier, he was at Oklahoma State University, where we was head of the School of Industrial Engineering and Management and later associate dean for research. In addition, Greene was a faculty member at Virginia Tech from 1980 to 1991. His background also includes extensive consulting work in private industry, for such diverse clients as Brunswick Corp., Ingersoll Rand, Union Carbide, Federal Mogul and IBM.

He is a senior member and fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers and served as national president of that organization in 1997-98. He also is a senior member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and a member of honor societies Phi Kappa Phi, Tau Beta Pi, Alpha Pi Mu and Sigma Xi. In addition, he has served as an onsite evaluator for ABET--the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology Inc.

An expert in the areas of scheduling, operations management, leadership and change management, he has made technical presentations in eight other nations and is the author or co-author of more than 50 articles and book chapters. He also has managed more than $10 million in research funding and has served as advisor to 30 master's level students and nine doctoral students.

Greene earned three engineering degrees from Purdue University--a bachelor's degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering in 1975 and master's and doctoral degrees in industrial engineering in 1977 and 1980, respectively.

Greene is a tenured faculty member in the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, His new annual salary as provost will be $220,000.

He replaces Dr. Bassam Harik, the University's interim provost since last July, who stepped in following the retirement of Dr. Janet Pisaneschi and agreed to serve while the national search was conducted.

Media contact: Cheryl Roland, (269) 387-8400, cheryl.roland@wmich.edu

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