Michael Palis to Become Interim Dean of Camden Faculty of Arts and Sciences

March 1, 2007

Members of the Rutgers Community:

I am pleased to announce that Dr. Michael Palis has agreed to serve as interim dean of the Camden Faculty of Arts and Sciences during Dean Margaret Marsh's tenure as interim Rutgers–Camden provost.

These transitions will occur in May when Camden Provost Roger J. Dennis departs to assume the role of founding dean of the Drexel Law School.

Dr. Palis has served as associate dean for the College of Arts and Sciences, the largest undergraduate unit on the Rutgers–Camden Campus, since 2005.  As founding chair of the computer sciences department, he was instrumental in launching and nurturing this department into one of Rutgers–Camden's finest academic units.  A fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Mike is a distinguished scholar whose research interests include parallel and distributed computing, real-time systems, design and analysis of algorithms, and computational complexity.  He earned his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Minnesota.

As interim dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Mike will sustain and advance the considerable momentum developed by the unit during the past several years. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences encompasses the College of Arts and Sciences, University College, the Graduate School, and the Honors College, and enrolls approximately three-quarters of the students on the Camden Campus.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Palis and offering him our full support in this important endeavor on behalf of the university.

Richard L. McCormick
President
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey