David W. Pershing | |
---|---|
15thPresident of University of Utah | |
In office March 1, 2012 –April 2, 2018 | |
Preceded by | Michael K. Young |
Succeeded by | Ruth V. Watkins |
Personal details | |
Born | Anderson,Indiana | October 2,1948
Spouses | Lynn Kennard Pershing (m. 1978–2004)Sandra J. Pershing (m. 2009–2022) |
Alma mater | Purdue University (B.S.) University of Arizona (Ph.D.) |
Profession | University Administrator |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Chemical engineering |
Institutions | University of Utah |
Thesis | Nitrogen oxide formation in pulverized coal flames (1976) |
Doctoral advisor | Jost Wendt |
David W. Pershing is an American educator and former president of the University of Utah. [1] [2] He received a bachelor's degree from Purdue University in 1970 [3] and a PhD from University of Arizona. [4]
Pershing joined the faculty of the University of Utah in 1977 as a professor of chemical engineering. He was named a Presidential Young Investigator by the National Science Foundation in 1984 and became dean of the College of Engineering in 1987. He was named a Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering in 1995. In 1998, university President Bernie Machen named Pershing as senior vice president for Academic Affairs. [5] In March 2012, Pershing was named president of the University of Utah, [5] [6] where he also holds an appointment as a distinguished professor of chemical engineering. [7]
In April 2017, he was involved in the controversial firing of Mary Beckerle, CEO and director of the university's Huntsman Cancer Institute. [8] Pershing soon reinstated Beckerle following protests from members of the university community and the Huntsman family. On 28 April, the university's senior vice president for Health Sciences, Vivian Lee, announced her resignation in the wake of the Beckerle incident. During a meeting of the university's Academic Senate on May 1, Pershing announced his own resignation, stating that it was in part "so that the person picking the new VP [of Health Sciences] is the new president." [9] Pershing continued serving as president during the search for his successor. Ruth V. Watkins was selected, and succeeded Pershing on 2 April 2018, at which time he rejoined the faculty of engineering. [9]
The University of Utah is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, 25 years before Brigham Young University and making it Utah's oldest institution of higher education. The university received its current name in 1892, four years before Utah attained statehood, and moved to its current location in 1900. It is the flagship university of the Utah System of Higher Education.
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Vivian S. Lee is an American radiologist and health care/health technology executive. An Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School and senior lecturer at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Lee is the author of the book, The Long Fix: Solving America's Health Care Crisis with Strategies That Work for Everyone. Lee is also a senior fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2019, she was named No. 11 in Modern Healthcare's 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare and is a frequent speaker at national and international meetings on the applications of big data, AI, and technology in healthcare, leadership and managing change, health equity, and on climate change and health system resilience.
Mary C. Beckerle is an American cell biologist who studies cancer at the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah School of Medicine. At Huntsman Cancer Institute, she serves as the CEO and also as Associate Vice President for Cancer Affairs at the University of Utah. Beckerle's research helped to define a novel molecular pathway for cell motility, and more recently, she has begun research into Ewing’s sarcoma, a pediatric bone cancer. Beckerle's lab made a ground breaking discovery in regards to Ewing's Sarcoma in relation to the EWS/FLI protein. Her lab discovered EWS/FLI to disrupt the internal cellular skeleton, which decreases the ability of cells to adhere to their proper environment. This can help explain the metastasis of tumors in patients with Ewing's sarcoma.
The College of Science at the University of Utah is an academic college of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. The college offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in atmospheric science, biology, chemistry, geology and geophysics, mathematics, metallurgical engineering, mining engineering and physics and astronomy.
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