He looked at his watch and quickly glanced at the door to see if any more guests would walk in. As he stood at the podium while remaining faculty and staff members stumbled in to find their seats, he began his introduction of one of the two finalists selected by the search committee for the position of Vice President for Research.
“It is an honor for me to introduce the candidate for the Vice President for Research at the University of Memphis,” associate professor, director of bioinformatics programs Ramin Homayouni said as he continued to name some of the candidate’s list of scholarly accomplishments.
Candidate Glenn H. Dillon spoke in an open session interview amongst students, faculty and staff Tuesday in the River Room of the University Center. His goal was to actively engage with his audience in order for everyone to learn more about who he is and his plans for the university if he acquires the VP for Research position.
“I’ve been impressed with some of the potential here. I’ve had some very nice and frank discussions with a number of the groups and I look forward to having that type of exchange here,” the candidate said. “I had a chance to meet with the president and I have understood what he’s wanting to do and ideas for the institutions.”
Dillon currently serves as Vice President for Health Sciences Research and Graduate Education at West Virginia University.
At the open session, he expressed his ideas for how he plans to improve the University of Memphis.
“I do get the sense that infrastructure overall will need to elevate and there is a good need for a strong mentoring program and a more focused development program, Dillon said. “I would spend my first few months just trying to get around and certainly work through the deans. I want to have an open door [policy] to the faculty and invite myself to some of the faculty meetings and hear what their issues are. That would be helpful to me.”
Grant McGimpsey, Vice President of Research and Sponsored Programs at Kent State University is the other candidate for the position. He will host an open session similar to Dillon’s on Thursday, November 20, 2014 in the UC River Room at 2:30 p.m.
The Vice President for Research reports to the University President and is responsible for leading the University’s initiatives to support and promote the growth of sponsored research, scholarly activity and technology transfer; serves as research advisor to the President, Provost, and Deans; participates as a member of the President’s Strategic Council; and represents the President and University with a variety of publics and special interest groups, councils, and agencies related to academic research.
“Everything we do involves research, it’s how we make our funds so vice president research is a critical component to help us get the grants,” Dan Pallme, civil engineering faculty member who attended the open session said.
