Iowa Impact!Medical Innovation Summit

Friday, August 26, 2011 | 8:00 AM Registration | FFA Center, Des Moines Area Community College

 

Gregory L. Geoffroy (pronounced JOE-free) became president of Iowa State University on July 1, 2001. He also holds the rank of professor of chem-istry. Dr. Geoffroy began his academic career as an assistant professor of chemistry at the Pennsyl-vania State University in 1974, advancing to associ-ate professor in 1978 and professor in 1982. He was appointed head of the De-partment of Chemistry in 1988 and dean of the Eb-erly Colle¬ge of Science at Penn State in 1989.

In 1997, Dr. Geoffroy was appointed senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he also served as interim president for two months in 1998.

At Iowa State Iowa State University’s 2005-2010 Strategic Plan, developed un-der President Geoffroy’s leadership, sets forth an ambitious agenda, with the vision of being the best at advancing the land-grant ideals and in putting science and technology to work. The plan sets forth goals of:• providing the best possible education to Iowa State’s students,through outstanding academic programs and an enriched learning environment; • raisingtheacademicqualityof theuniversity,withmoreof itsprograms recognized as among the best in the nation; • being a fully “engaged” university with the people of Iowa,through expanded distance education, economic development, and community development initiatives. • elevatingIowa’sappealasaplacetolive,learn,andwork,and• ensuringthattheuniversityisagreatplacetoworkandenhanc-ing the university’s efforts to foster diversity and ensure an inviting and welcoming climate that supports success for all members of the university community. To these ends, Dr. Geoffroy has made recruitment and retention of top faculty, staff and students a major focus, and he has emphasized

the need to raise private funds to support faculty positions, graduate assistantships and student scholarships. He is currently leading the university’s ambitious $800 million private fund-raising campaign, Campaign Iowa State -- With Pride and Purpose.Board memberships and public service Dr. Geoffroy currently is a member of the National Security Higher Education Advisory Board, which fosters communication and understanding between higher education and the FBI and other national security agencies. In Iowa, he serves as the Regents’ represen-tative on the Iowa Power Fund Board, a member of the World Food Prize Advisory Committee, a member of the Iowa Business Coun-cil, and President of the Iowa 4-H Foundation. He also serves on the board of directors of the Big 12 Conference. He was the conference’s representative to the NCAA Division I board of directors and a mem-ber of the NCAA’s Executive Committee from August 2005 to May 2008.

Organometallic chemistry researcher Only the second of Iowa State’s 14 presidents to come from a chemistry background, Dr. Geoffroy is a nationally acclaimed re-searcher in organometallic chemistry. He has published more than 200 research articles in refereed journals; presented more than 200 in-vited lectures in the United States and nine other nations; is co-author of the book Organometallic Photochemistry, and has directed the work of 37 Ph.D. students and 15 post-doctoral scholars. He also has made special efforts to involve undergraduate students in research by providing opportunities for more than 50 undergraduate students to join his research group. Dr. Geoffroy’s teaching and research have earned him fellow-ships from the Alfred P. Sloan and John Simon Guggenheim Founda-tions, visiting professorships to major universities in Germany and France, the Dreyfus Foundation Teacher-Scholar Award, and, in 1991, election as a Fellow in the American Association for the Advance-ment of Science. He has served in various leadership capacities in the Association for Universities for Research in Astronomy and in the American Chemical Society’s Division of Inorganic Chemistry. In 1997 he was named an Alumni Fellow of the University of Louisville.

Family, academic degrees, military service Dr. Geoffroy earned the B.S. With Honors from the University of Louisville in 1968. He served as an officer in the U.S. Navy from 1969 to 1970 and then earned his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1974 from the California Institute of Technology. He and his wife, Kathleen Caroth-ers Geoffroy, have four children.

Dr. Gregory L. GeoffroyPresident, Iowa State University