UTSA appoints Howard Grimes as interim dean of the College of Sciences

Grimes will serve as interim dean of the UTSA College of Sciences while the university conducts a national search for a permanent dean.

(July 3, 2018) – UTSA Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Kimberly Andrews Espy today announced that Howard Grimes has been appointed interim dean of the UTSA College of Sciences, effective July 6.

Grimes worked for more than 20 years at Washington State University, where he was professor in the School of Molecular Biosciences. He served as dean of the Graduate School from 2002 to 2012 and concurrently served as vice president for research from 2008 to 2012, during which time WSU increased research funding by more that 90 percent, from $170 million a year to $320 million a year. More recently, Grimes served as vice president for research and economic development at Idaho State University (2012–2015) and as director for innovation and industry partnerships for Idaho National Lab and the Center for Advance Energy Studies (2015–2017). Since 2011, he has served as CEO of H2 Research Innovation, a consultancy firm focused on developing new approaches for sustainable agriculture via synthetic biology applications.

Grimes earned a Ph.D. in botany (biophysics) from North Carolina State University, an M.S. in plant pathology from the University of Massachusetts, and an A.B. in chemistry and biology from Indiana University. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

“Howard is an accomplished, highly collaborative leader with a strong record of interdisciplinary team-building and a demonstrated commitment to undergraduate and graduation education” said Espy. “As interim dean, he will be active in developing strategies to advance the college during this transition period and to facilitate the success of the national search for the next dean.”

Grimes’ appointment as interim dean was facilitated by the Registry for College and University Presidents, which works with institutions to place experienced higher education professionals in interim leadership positions.

UTSA has begun a national search for the next dean of the College of Sciences to replace George Perry, who last month was named chief scientist of the UTSA Brain Health Consortium.

The search committee comprises the following individuals:

Chair:
John Murphy, Dean of the College of Architecture, Construction and Planning

Faculty Co-chair:
Kelly Nash, Associate Professor, Physics and Astronomy

Committee members:
Hector Aguilar, Lecturer lll, Chemistry
Bernard Arulanandum, Interim Vice President for Research, Economic Development, and Knowledge Enterprise
JoAnn Browning, Dean of the College of Engineering
Janis Bush, Professor and Department Chair, Environmental Science and Ecology
Walt Downing, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Southwest Research Institute
Mike Findeisen, Associate Director of Fiscal Administration, College of Sciences
Kim Fischer, Associate Dean for University Development, College of Sciences
Hai-Chao Han, Professor and Department Chair, Mechanical Engineering
Jenny Hsieh, Professor of Biology and Director of the Brain Health Consortium
Daijin Ko, Professor, Management Science and Statistics
Stanton McHardy, Professor of Research in Chemistry and Director of the Center for Drug Discovery
Chris Packham, Associate Professor, Physics and Astronomy
Brad Parman, Principal, The Parman Group
Jennifer Potter, Associate Dean for Research in the School of Medicine, UT Health San Antonio
Priya Prasad, Assistant Professor, Mathematics
Ravi Sandhu, Professor and Director of the Institute for Cyber Security
Marina Suarez, Associate Professor, Geological Sciences
Floyd Wormley, Professor of Biology and Associate Dean of the College of Sciences
Timothy Yuen, Associate Professor, Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching

— Rebecca Luther

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