Provost Announcement: Karen J. Colley Appointed Dean of the Graduate College
I am pleased to announce that Karen J. Colley has accepted my offer to become the next Dean of the Graduate College, effective January 19, pending approval by the Board of Trustees. Dr. Colley is currently Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs in the College of Medicine. She succeeds Dr. Henri Gillet, who has my thanks for serving as interim dean since 2009, and who will continue his valuable work in the Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science.
Since joining UIC in 1991 as an assistant professor, Karen Colley has made students and graduate education a major focus while maintaining an active NIH-funded research program and serving in several administrative roles in her college and across campus. She served as director of graduate studies in her department for eight years and was a member of the College of Medicine curriculum committee and the M1/M2 curriculum subcommittee overseeing medical school curriculum development. In 2002 Dr. Colley co-founded the Graduate Education in Medical Sciences (GEMS) program, the first interdisciplinary graduate program at UIC, which she co-directed for three years. In 2005 she became the Interim Associate Dean for Research in the College of Medicine and in 2007 was promoted to Associate Dean for Research and Education, responsible for the college's graduate programs, the GEMS program, and the Office for Graduate Diversity Programs. Dr. Colley coordinated the IBHE-mandated review of these programs and spearheaded substantial changes in the funding mechanism for the College's Ph.D. students, reducing the financial burden on faculty members funding students from grants. Since 2007 she has also served as Associate Director of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) directing students in their choice of research mentors and monitoring their dissertation research progress. Her service on campus-level committees includes the All Campus Promotion and Tenure Committee and committees conducting faculty searches and grant reviews and providing student awards for the Chicago Biomedical Consortium.
Dr. Colley has demonstrated commitment to diversity in graduate education. She participated in the team that successfully gained NSF funding in 2006 for the Bridge to the Doctorate Program serving underrepresented minority students transitioning from undergraduate to doctoral studies, and she currently serves on the program's advisory board. In 2009 she joined the Graduate College Diversity Committee that was tasked with devising a strategic plan for diversity in the college. As Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, she has recently become part of her college's Diversity Committee and the Faculty Academic Advancement Committee that seek to increase faculty, staff and student diversity in the College.
Dr. Colley has maintained an active, NIH-funded research laboratory since 1991 that studies how protein glycosylation is controlled by enzyme compartmentation, substrate recognition, and donor availability during development and disease, and how variable glycosylation impacts protein function at these times. In 2003 her scholarship was recognized with the University Scholar award, among the highest faculty honors granted by the University of Illinois. Dr. Colley is a member of the Membrane Biology and Protein Processing NIH study section, an editorial board member for the journal Glycobiology, and she reviews manuscripts for several journals including the Journal of Biological Chemistry and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. She will serve as the co-chair of the Glycobiology thematic session at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2012.
Please join me in welcoming Dr. Colley to her new role on campus.
Lon S. Kaufman
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost
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