Hall named new vice chancellor
Jim Coleman left the position citing frustration with political climate.
Published Sept. 7, 2007
MU Provost Brian Foster has named Rob Hall interim vice chancellor of research after the former vice chancellor of research, Jim Coleman, announced he was leaving MU. Coleman said he resigned because he is frustrated with how Missouri's political climate has affected research.
Coleman resigned his position to take a similar one at Rice University.
"I was susceptible to entertaining the opportunity at Rice, because I became a little bit demoralized by the interactions of the (UM) system, the Board of Curators and the Missouri state legislature with MU," he said in an e-mail. "The disconnect between the incredible quality of this institution and the support it receives was sometimes frustrating to me."
MU Faculty Council President Frank Schmidt said this is a common sentiment among professors, especially after 2001, when the university lost approximately 10 percent of its funding.
"It's certainly an indication of where the priorities are, and clearly they are not here at the University of Missouri," Schmidt said. "When you have that kind of anti-science attitude, it's very difficult to get excited about your job when your job is to be the spokesperson for science at the university."
Foster named Hall, previously an assistant vice chancellor in the research office and a 30-year faculty member, interim vice chancellor of research. Hall will start Thursday.
Hall received a B.A. in English from the University of Maryland in 1973. In 1975, he received a master's degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and then a doctorate in 1977 in medical and veterinary entomology. He started at MU as an assistant professor of entomology in 1977.
In his new job, Hall will continue some of the tasks he did as assistant vice chancellor of research in addition to several tasks that are exclusive to the vice chancellor, including maintaining standards on research infrastructure and being in charge of communication throughout the research center.
Although Hall does have experience on the job, he said it will still be difficult.
"I think it's going to be a real challenge, because you have to understand that Jim Coleman was doing more than a full-time job, and I have a full-time job, and when you take one person out of that mix, that leaves two full-time jobs to do by less than two people," Hall said. "These numbers would certainly indicate that it's going to be a really good challenge."
But Foster said he is certain Hall will be successful.
"He has a really broad understanding of how research fits into the university," Foster said. "He's a very smart guy and he understands the big picture. He's had a lot of experience."
Coleman said he is also confident Hall will continue the momentum in MU's research.
"He has played this same role before and done a fantastic job in guiding the research operation in the interim before I joined MU in 2003," Coleman said. "I am completely confident that he will be a great person and do a great job overseeing MU's research and keeping it growing to record levels."
Foster said, in the meantime, he is putting together a "search party" within a week to try to find a permanent replacement.
"It's going to be a really aggressive national search to find good people," he said. "It'll be a national search because we want to find a nationally prominent person."