Steven D. House, dean of ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ College, the College of Arts and Sciences, and associate vice president for academic affairs, has been named provost and vice president for academic affairs at ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ. His appointment by President Leo M. Lambert comes after a four-month national search.
House will serve as the university’s chief academic officer, overseeing all of ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ’s academic, academic support and student life programs. He will begin his duties June 1, 2009, succeeding Gerald L. Francis, who will move to the position of executive vice president for the university. Francis has served as ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ’s provost since 1994.
“Dr. House is an exceptional leader and uniquely qualified to serve as ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ’s next provost,” Lambert said. “He has a deep understanding of the university gained through seven years of service as dean, and is an academic leader of tremendous energy, integrity and vision. Through his service as founding dean of ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ College, the College of Arts and Sciences, Steven has played a major leadership role in promoting the centrality of the arts and sciences at ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ and affirming our identity as a liberal arts university. We admire Steven’s passion for ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, his creative and collaborative work style, and his positive spirit, and are confident that he will be a strong force in continuing the momentum ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ has enjoyed under Gerry Francis’ leadership.”
House said he is deeply honored to be selected as ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ’s next provost. “ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ is on a path to become the very best university in the nation for active, engaged and experiential teaching and learning,” House said. “I will strive to inspire and unleash the imagination and excellence of every person on campus so that together we sustain and enhance our extraordinary learning community that transforms mind, body and spirit.”
House has been an integral part of developing the university’s national reputation since coming to ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ from Seton Hall University in 2001, when he was named the founding dean of ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ College, the College of Arts and Sciences. House joined the president’s senior staff in 2006 when he was given the additional title of associate vice president for academic affairs.
As dean of ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ College, House has provided leadership for 17 academic departments and 19 academic programs. The number of ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ College faculty has increased by 50 percent during his tenure as dean, and the number of students majoring in the liberal arts has grown from 37 percent of the overall student body to 46 percent. House helped develop the ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ College Fellows Program and collaborated with the Division of Student Affairs to expand ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ’s living-learning communities.
He has worked closely with faculty to develop ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ’s application to shelter a Phi Beta Kappa chapter at the university, assessing where academic programs needed to be strengthened, developing an action plan and implementing changes. As co-chair of ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ’s long-range planning subcommittee on sciences, he has conducted feasibility studies, hired consultants, developed budget models and presented options to the board of trustees.
House is a member of ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ’s budget committee, director of the ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ College Fellows Living-Learning Community Committee, and has served on numerous other university committees. He chaired the search committee for the dean of ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ’s Martha and Spencer Love School of Business in 2007. House also currently serves as a member of the university’s strategic planning committee.
House earned his bachelor of science degree in biology in 1977 from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. He completed his doctorate in physiology with honors six years later at the University of Arizona. He served at Columbia University from 1983 to 1986 as a postdoctoral fellow in physiology and cellular biophysics.
After working as an associate research scientist at Columbia, House joined Seton Hall University in New Jersey in 1987, teaching courses in biology, physiology, pharmacology and anatomy. He was named director of health professions in 1994 and associate dean of Seton Hall’s College of Arts and Sciences in 1997. He received Seton Hall’s Student Choice Award for outstanding teaching, the university’s Outstanding Service Award, the Trustees’ Scholarship Award and a Special Appreciation Award for teaching and advising.
An active scientist and researcher, House has authored scores of articles and presentations on blood flow regulation during health and disease. He received a major National Institute of Health research award on microvascular cell dynamics, and received a visiting expert award from the Academia Sinica in Taiwan, Republic of China, and the Grega-Zacharkow Young Investigator Award from the Microcirculatory Society.
House is a member of several professional societies, including the Piedmont Triad Higher Education Innovations Council, the Commission on Colleges, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences, the American Physiological Society, and Phi Kappa Phi national honor society.