For Immediate Release
June 28, 2012
Contacts: Lee Tune, 301 405 4679 or ltune@umd.edu

Mary Ann Rankin Named Senior Vice President and Provost at University of Maryland

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- University of Maryland President Wallace Loh today announced the appointment of Mary Ann Rankin as Senior Vice President and Provost. Rankin, a national leader in innovative and highly successful programs for boosting the supply of science and math teachers and other STEM graduates, will start at Maryland on October 1, 2012.

Rankin currently is CEO of the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) in Dallas. NMSI is a public-private partnership dedicated to expanding the pipeline of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) graduates and STEM K-12 teachers. Previously, she spent 36 years at The University of Texas at Austin, where she served for six years as chair of biological sciences and for nearly 17 years as Dean of the College of Natural Sciences.

As dean of the College of Natural Sciences at the UT, Rankin created, with her administrative team, numerous highly successful programs for undergraduates including the UTeach program for math and science teacher preparation and the Freshman Research Initiative. Working with the College of Liberal Arts, she created the Texas Interdisciplinary Program, a special opportunity curriculum for at-risk students that enrolls and enhances outcomes for over 900 students. These efforts significantly increased student retention and graduation rates particularly among underrepresented minorities.

UTeach has been cited as a national model for STEM teacher preparation by several state governors, Presidents Obama and G. W. Bush, and in the National Academy of Sciences report "Rising Above the Gathering Storm." UTeach is now being replicated in partnership with the National Math and Science Initiative in 34 universities in 16 states.

As dean, Rankin also led the launch of new interdisciplinary research initiatives, the construction of new, world-class science buildings, and growth of existing and the establishment of new research institutes at UT. She raised over $800 million in private funding for academic programs, research centers, and academic buildings, including the new $120M Gates Computer Science Complex. Under her leadership the number of women science faculty grew from 15 to 30 percent and gender parity in salaries was established. In her last three years, she managed strategically the state-imposed budget cuts.

"Mary Ann is one of the most visionary and innovative academic leaders in the country, and we are extremely fortunate to have her as our new Provost," says President Loh. "Her abilities and amazing track record make for an outstanding fit with the University of Maryland as we continue to advance as a research university of national and global renown."

"I'm excited and honored to have this opportunity. It is a privilege to become part of your leadership team and I am looking forward to working with everyone in the University of Maryland community," says Rankin. "Public universities today are facing heightened challenges as well as new opportunities. I think the University of Maryland is particularly well positioned to succeed in this challenging time, and I look forward to helping it do so."

Rankin received her bachelor's degree in biology and chemistry from Louisiana State University, was a National Science Foundation pre-doctoral fellow at the University of Iowa and Imperial College Field Station, Ascot, England, and earned a doctorate in physiology and behavior from the University of Iowa in 1972. She was a National Institutes of Health post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University until joining The University of Texas at Austin in 1975 as an assistant professor of zoology. In 1986, she was promoted to professor. Rankin was chairman of the Division of Biological Sciences from 1989 until her appointment as dean of the College of Natural Sciences in 1994.

Rankin's research focuses on studies of the physiologic relationships governing the evolution of insect life history strategies. She is a member of the American Entomological Society, the Royal Entomological Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

She serves on several non-profit boards including the Austin Lyric Opera and the Southwest Institute (one of the nation's largest, non-profit R&D firms in engineering and space sciences) as well as the Advisory Committee for the Division of Education and Human Resources at the National Science Foundation

High resolution photo of Rankin at: http://www.nationalmathandscience.org/sites/default/files/bio/Rankin_color.jpg

Media Contacts:

Lee Tune
University of Maryland
University Communications
301-405-4679
240-328-4914 cell
ltune@umd.edu

Rena Pederson
NMSI
Director of Communications
214-665-2500 (Main)
214-665-2523 (Direct)
rpederson@nationalmathandscience.org

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