University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

• Print

• Comments (1)

• 

  Harvey Stenger Jr.

By SUE WUETCHER

Published: November 22, 2011

Harvey Stenger Jr., interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, today was named president of Binghamton University by the SUNY Board of Trustees.

The appointment is effective Jan. 1.

Bruce McCombe, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Physics and a former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, will replace Stenger as interim provost and executive vice president.

President Satish K. Tripathi praised Stenger, calling his appointment as BU president “richly deserved recognition of his remarkable vision and the depth and breadth of his leadership and expertise.”

“These are all qualities that we have come to know very well during Harvey’s service at UB, and I am confident that they will distinguish him as an exceptional president at our sister SUNY institution,” Tripathi said.

Under Stenger’s leadership as interim provost, UB’s academic enterprise “continues to make impressive strides forward as we pursue our long-range institutional vision of excellence,” he said, adding that UB is “very well positioned to build on our strong academic foundation” as the university searches for its next provost.

“While I am very sorry to see him leave UB, I am thrilled to continue working with him as a presidential colleague at our fellow university center at Binghamton,” Tripathi said. “I know I am joined by all of Harvey’s colleagues and friends at UB in expressing my heartfelt thanks for his exemplary contributions over the years and my warmest wishes for every success in this important new leadership role.”

Stenger was named interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs in April, shortly before the SUNY Board of Trustees named Tripathi, formerly UB provost, the university’s 15th president.

He joined the UB faculty in 2006 as dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences after serving as dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science at Lehigh University. He also holds an appointment as professor of chemical and biological engineering at UB.

As engineering dean, he shepherded construction of the new engineering building—Barbara and Jack Davis Hall—on the North Campus.

Among his other accomplishments are a redesigned freshman-year engineering curriculum; enhanced diversity of the student population via programs funded by the National Science Foundation and corporate foundations; $19 million in philanthropic gifts to the school, including $5 million in building-naming gifts from Barbara and Jack Davis; and completion in 2008 of the ABET accreditation process for the school’s eight programs.

As a scholar, he has been investigator or co-investigator on nearly 30 research grants and contracts, and has authored or co-authored more than 65 scientific articles. His research focuses on reacting heterogeneous systems, including work in natural products processing, semiconductor materials manufacturing, emission control processes and synthetic fuels research.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a doctorate from MIT, both in chemical engineering.

Tripathi said the work of the search committee seeking a permanent provost is progressing well, and he anticipates the search will be concluded by the spring semester with a new provost in place during summer 2012.