Gladfelter named associate dean for academic affairs

Institute of Technology Dean Steven L. Crouch has appointed long-time University of Minnesota chemistry professor Wayne Gladfelter as the college’s associate dean for academic affairs effective July 1, 2008.

Gladfelter has served as interim associate dean for the past year. Among his many duties as associate dean for academic affairs, Gladfelter’s responsibilities include overseeing the processes for faculty promotion and tenure, faculty sabbatical and semester leaves, and faculty honors and awards.

Gladfelter has been a chemistry faculty member at the University of Minnesota since 1979 and served as the Department of Chemistry chair from 1999 to 2005. He also has been a member of the graduate program faculty in materials science and engineering since 1991 and in chemical engineering since 1994. In addition, Gladfelter served as director of graduate studies in chemistry from 1984 to 1986 and as associate director of the materials characterization facility from 1996 to 1999.

Gladfelter holds seven patents and has received numerous awards, including being named a 2007 fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He also was named an Institute of Technology Distinguished Professor in 1998. He currently is the chair elect of the chemistry section of AAAS.

Gladfelter’s primary research is in the area of molecular/chemical routes to solid state materials, predominantly thin films of metals and metal oxides, and their applications to microelectronics. He has published more than 200 research articles and has been invited to conduct more than 170 seminars and meeting presentations.

Gladfelter received his bachelor’s degree in mineral engineering chemistry from the Colorado School of Mines in 1975 and his Ph.D. in inorganic and organic chemistry from Penn State in 1978. He was an NSF postdoctoral fellow at Caltech before starting at Minnesota.