New dean appointed to lead College of Science

Published:?Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Updated:?Wednesday, May 8, 2013 03:05

Courtesy of Sastry Pantula | CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Sastry Pantula, his daughter Asha and his wife Sobha, a nuclear medicine technologist.

After a one-year hiatus, the College of Science now has a permanent dean.

Oregon State University has hired Sastry Pantula, a professor of statistics at North Carolina State University, and the director of the National Science Foundation?s division of mathematical sciences. Pantula comes to OSU after having been at NCSU for more than 30 years, and will assume the office on Aug. 30. He succeeds Vince Remcho, who has served as interim dean for the past year.

?I?m very excited, thrilled and humbled by the appointment,? Pantula said. ?I?m looking forward to coming there this fall, working with students, staff, faculty and alumni and friends.?

While Pantula leaves NC State after 30 years, he wasn?t exactly looking to leave.

?I was looking for a new challenge that gives me a new opportunity to take full advantage of all of my experiences,? Pantula said.

The search for a new science dean began when Sherman Bloomer left the office in early 2012 to become director of OSU?s office of budgets and fiscal planning. Sabah Randhawa, provost and executive vice president, appointed a search committee, chaired by Larry Rodgers, dean of the College of Liberal Arts.

?Sastry has excellent credentials and brings a fresh, new perspective to the university,? Remcho said. ?His experience as a leader at the NSF is unique, and I am certain that it will be a benefit to us at OSU.?

Remcho served as interim dean, and was a candidate for the permanent dean position, and will now return to teaching.

?It will be an honor to return to what attracted me to an academic career in the first place: teaching, research and service,? Remcho said.

He looks back positively on his tenure as interim dean.

?This was a very productive and positive academic year for the College of Science, and it was a personally rewarding year for me, too,? Remcho said.

The College of Science set a new record for scholarship dollars made available to students and introduced a new summer undergraduate research experiences in science program.

Pantula plans on developing a long-term strategic plan for the College of Science.

?I would like to work with our faculty and department chairs to develop a strategic plan that is forward-looking and long-term in impact,? Pantula said. ?I would like to work with our faculty and advisers to continue to improve recruitment, retention and graduation of STEM majors on campus.?

Pantula?s vision for the College of Science is to have the college be seen as a global leader in research and discoveries.

?I like to see our faculty, alumni and students thrive, not just survive,? Pantula said. ?As our student numbers grow, we need to grow our faculty, and as our faculty research flourishes, we need to have better facilities for their research.?

Pantula started his teaching career at NCSU in 1982 as an assistant professor.

According to his resume on the NCSU website, Pantula became an associate professor in 1988, served as director of graduate programs in the department of statistics from 1994 to 2002, and served as head of NCSU?s department of statistics from 2002 to 2010.

Since 2010, Pantula has served as division director of the NSF?s division of mathematical sciences.

?My job [as part of a team] is to set priorities, and support outstanding research and workforce development in mathematical and statistical sciences in this country,? Pantula said.

With his team at NSF, Pantula manages a budget of approximately $238 million per year. He also works with other NSF divisions and federal agencies to develop new programs.

Pantula grew up in Vizianagram, in Andhra Pradesh, India. The son of a math teacher, he credits his parents for helping him build a foundation for his eventual profession.

?My father used to wake me up early to teach me calculus in my high school years,? Pantula said.

Pantula is a graduate of the Indian Statistical Institute in Calcutta, India, where he received his bachelors and masters of science degrees in statistics. Pantula came to the United States in 1979, and earned his Ph.D at Iowa State University.

Source: http://www.dailybarometer.com/new-dean-appointed-to-lead-college-of-science-1.3042207

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