Robert Palazzo, Ph.DRobert Palazzo, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, will step down from his role as dean, effective July 1, 2020, and join the faculty of the Department of Biology. Palazzo was appointed interim dean of the college Oct. 1, 2012, and he was named dean following a national search June 1, 2013.
“Bob has been a true leader in UAB’s ongoing commitment to nurturing the liberal arts as an integral part of a research university founded 50 years ago as a health care-focused institution,” said Provost Pam Benoit in announcing Palazzo’s decision.
“Bob has been a true leader in UAB’s ongoing commitment to nurturing the liberal arts as an integral part of a research university founded 50 years ago as a health care-focused institution.”~ Provost Pam Benoit |
Between fall 2015 and fall 2019 (projected), student enrollment in the college has increased 28%. In response to the rapid growth of the undergraduate and graduate programs in the college, Palazzo led the design, planning and recent opening of University Hall, a $39 million, 109,110-square-foot facility that houses seven departments in the college.
Annual expenditures for research activities in the college have grown 43% under Palazzo’s leadership, increasing to nearly $20 million for the 2018-19 academic year. “Bob has skillfully made research a driving goal of the college, with four areas of focus: human health and the quality of life; social justice and human rights; computation and security in our cyber world; and creative expression through the arts and humanities,” Benoit said.
Evolution to alignment
“When I joined UAB, the College of Arts and Sciences was barely two years old and was struggling to evolve from three independent schools into a strategically aligned and forward-looking unit — the largest within the UAB academic enterprise,” Palazzo said.
“I have been privileged to work with highly competent, dedicated and committed colleagues among our faculty and staff who have helped build a cohesive and successful college community with ambitious goals,” he added. “I’m proud to say that after eight years, the College of Arts and Sciences has achieved nearly all of its strategic priorities, including undergraduate student enrollment, an increase in research expenditures, facilities improvements, new and innovative degrees and programs, a more diverse college and the pursuit of innovative projects to engage our surrounding community, such as the Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts and the Institute for Human Rights.”
At Palazzo’s initiative, the college created the UAB Institute for Human Rights (IHR) in 2014 to provide a framework for Birmingham’s human and civil rights activities and connect the city, with its historical significance in the struggle for civil rights, to national and international collaborative activities.
“We have grown in every category and by every measure and for that I am both proud and thankful to our department chairs, faculty, staff and enthusiastic students.” |
In addition to IHR, the college’s other centers and initiatives reflect the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of UAB’s academic offerings. These include the Center for Community Outreach Development, a K-12 STEM education outreach collaborative among the College, the school of Medicine and Education, and the Undergraduate Neuroscience Program, a collaboration between the college and the School of Medicine.
The College of Arts and Sciences houses 19 departments in natural sciences and mathematics, social and behavioral sciences, and arts and humanities. Since he became dean, Palazzo has recruited or promoted new chairs for 17 of these departments.
“We have grown in every category and by every measure and for that I am both proud and thankful to our department chairs, faculty, staff and enthusiastic students,” Palazzo said. “I look forward to completing our work this year before joining the biology faculty for fall 2020.”
Palazzo came to UAB on an interim basis while taking a leave from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, where he had been a professor of biology since 2002. He was provost of RPI from 2007 to 2011, and he was acting provost prior to that. He also was the acting director and director of the RPI’s Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies from 2004 to 2006 and chaired its biology department from 2002 to 2005.
UAB shortly will begin a national search for a new dean and will work with the Isaacson Miller executive search firm. School of Public Health Dean Paul Erwin, M.D., DrPH, will chair the search committee. “I expect that we will be extending invitations soon for service on the search committee for this important position,” Benoit said.