Carnegie Mellon President and Provost Terms Are Extended for Additional Year

Leadership To Remain at Helm Until 2013

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Aug 17, 2010, 02:27 ET

PITTSBURGH, Aug. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnegie Mellon University's Board of Trustees has unanimously approved a one-year extension of Carnegie Mellon President Jared L. Cohon's appointment, keeping him at the helm of one of the world's leading research universities until June 2013. Executive Vice President and Provost Mark S. Kamlet also agreed to further extend his term one year until June 2013.

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The term extensions were voted on at a special meeting of the Board of Trustees on Aug. 17, after the Board consulted with and received support from the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate.

"Jared Cohon has been an exceptional leader for Carnegie Mellon University. His vision and passion have defined the university's place in history as we have grown our global presence. This extension is important for us to enable strategic initiatives, such as achieving the goals of our capital campaign, completing our expanded campus master plan, and accelerating our global education programs and various groundbreaking research endeavors," said Carnegie Mellon Chairman of the Board Raymond J. Lane, a managing partner of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. "Jerry Cohon has fostered the growth of Carnegie Mellon's uniquely collaborative style in education, research and development. The board thanks him for agreeing to stay on an additional year."

"When the idea of staying on another year as president was presented to me, I was pleased to consider the proposal and to say yes to the opportunity. After 16 years as president, I will step down on June 30, 2013, knowing the innovations and accomplishments of this university are a source of pride for all of us. I'm also pleased that my esteemed colleague Mark Kamlet has agreed to continue as executive vice president and provost, keeping our superb administrative team intact," Cohon said.

University Becomes Global Leader

Carnegie Mellon has progressed greatly under Cohon and Kamlet's management, and in the last 10 years the university has catapulted to a position of global leadership in higher education. During Cohon's tenure, Carnegie Mellon's curriculum has been recognized for its interdisciplinary focus and emphasis on problem solving with attention to ethics, environmental studies, global awareness and innovation. There is unprecedented demand for undergraduate admission to the university as evidenced by the record number of applications received annually. In this year's first-year class students hail from 29 countries and more than 40 states with 14 percent representing African American, Hispanic and Native American students combined.

Known for the strength and depth of its educational and research programs in the U.S., Carnegie Mellon also has expanded globally and now offers graduate degree programs in Australia and several countries in Asia, Europe and Latin America, and has an undergraduate campus in Doha, Qatar. New research institutes and degree programs have been established in California's Silicon Valley.

The entrepreneurial culture of the university has continued to thrive: according to the Association of University Technology Managers, Carnegie Mellon ranks first among all U.S. universities without a medical school in the number of start-up companies created per research dollar spent, and second in the U.S. among all universities in 2008.

CMU's Pittsburgh campus also has grown under Cohon and Kamlet's leadership, as new, innovative, state-of-the-art "green" buildings, such as the Collaborative Innovation Center, the Gates- Hillman Complex and Stever House — the first green dormitory in the nation — were constructed. The university recently acquired strategic property along Forbes Avenue for which it envisions many uses that will advance Carnegie Mellon's educational and civic priorities.

Under the current administration's leadership beginning in 1997, sponsored research has doubled. In keeping with its international presence, the university has grown its international alumni chapters from eight in 1997 to 27 today. Overall, CMU has 81 alumni chapters, representing more than 85,000 alumni. In spite of the recession, the university has enjoyed unprecedented philanthropic support and is on schedule with its $1 billion capital campaign, for which it has raised a total of $654 million.

President Jared L. Cohon

An acclaimed university administrator, civil engineer, professor and government adviser, Cohon is vice chairman of the Executive Committee of the 63-member Association of American Universities, which represents leading public and private research institutions. He was appointed by President Clinton to chair the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, was appointed by presidents G. W. Bush and Barack Obama to the Homeland Security Advisory Council, has served on the boards of numerous Pittsburgh civic organizations and is a member of the board of Lexmark International, Inc. and Ingersoll-Rand Company Limited. Andrew Carnegie's foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, honored Cohon with one of its first Academic Leadership awards in 2005. Among numerous other awards, Cohon was named a distinguished member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the society's highest accolade, in 2009.

Cohon came to Carnegie Mellon from Yale University, where he was dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and professor of environmental systems analysis. He joined Yale after 19 years at The Johns Hopkins University, where he rose through the faculty ranks to become associate dean of engineering and vice provost for research.

Cohon earned his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Executive Vice President and Provost Mark Kamlet

Kamlet, provost of Carnegie Mellon since 2000, was reappointed to a second five-year term in 2005, at which time he also was named senior vice president. In July 2009, he agreed to a two-year term extension to 2012, and was named executive vice president.

As CMU's chief academic officer, Kamlet has worked with the deans and department heads to strengthen the university's academic programs, retain and recruit world-class faculty, enhance its many research programs, centers and institutes, and create new academic and research initiatives leveraging the university's talent and expertise. A leading expert in economics and public policy, the economics of health care, quantitative methodology and public finance, he also has worked with local government and with Carnegie Mellon's many outreach initiatives to foster economic, educational and cultural development in southwest Pennsylvania.

Kamlet joined Carnegie Mellon's central leadership team after a successful eight-year tenure as dean of the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management at CMU, now the Heinz College. Under Kamlet, the Heinz School's endowment increased more than 80 percent and its research funding grew by nearly 400 percent. He became a member of the CMU faculty in 1976 and was named a professor in 1989 with a joint appointment in the Heinz School and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (H&SS). Before becoming dean of the Heinz School in 1993, Kamlet was associate dean of H&SS and head of its Department of Social and Decision Sciences.

He earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics from Stanford University, master's degrees in economics and statistics and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California at Berkeley.

More information about Carnegie Mellon's past and current leaders can be found at: http://www.cmu.edu/about/leadership/index.shtml

Editors Note: With the term extensions, Cohon will become the university's third-longest serving president with 16 years of service, behind Arthur Hammerschlag (1903-1922) with 19 years and Richard Cyert (1972-1990) with 18. Cohon, who joined Carnegie Mellon in 1997, is the eighth president in the university's 110-year history. Kamlet and Elliot Dunlap Smith (1945-1958) will be the second-longest serving provosts with 13 years each, behind Edward Schatz (1964-1981) with 17 years.

About Carnegie Mellon University: Carnegie Mellon (www.cmu.edu) is a private, internationally ranked research university with programs in areas ranging from science, technology and business, to public policy, the humanities and the arts. More than 11,000 students in the university's seven schools and colleges benefit from a small student- to-faculty ratio and an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. A global university, Carnegie Mellon's main campus in the United States is in Pittsburgh, Pa. It has campuses in California's Silicon Valley and Qatar, and programs in Asia, Australia, Europe and Mexico. The university is in the midst of a $1 billion fundraising campaign, titled "Inspire Innovation: The Campaign for Carnegie Mellon University," which aims to build its endowment, support faculty, students and innovative research, and enhance the physical campus with equipment and facility improvements.