OSU Board Approves Personnel Actions

Friday, July 27, 2007

(STILLWATER, OK., July 27, 2007) -- The Oklahoma State University/A&M Board of Regents approved several personnel actions during its July 27 meeting at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater.

Robert M. Klein of Guthrie was named assistant vice president and senior financial office for the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. Since 1984 he has worked in the Office of the Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector and is currently chief of staff.

He received his bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Oklahoma, and is a member of the board of the Oklahoma State Pension Commission, Oklahoma Linked Deposit Review Board, and the Public Health Insurance Plan Reserves Task Force. He holds certifications as a government financial manager, a fraud examiner, a fraud specialist, and as a procurement officer.
Christopher R. Ross, professor of anatomy and physiology at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University, was named professor and associate dean of veterinary medicine, with tenure. He received his B.S. in agriculture, and his D.V.M. and his Ph.D. in physiology from the University of Missouri.

He joined the KSU faculty in 1990, and his professional memberships include the American Physiological Society, Sigma Xi, Phi Zeta, Gamma Sigma Delta, Microcirculatory Society, and American Heart Association Basic Sciences Council.

Dr. Michael D. Larranaga of Coppell, Texas, was named associate professor and head of the Division of Engineering Technology. He received his B.S. in fire protection and safety technology from OSU, his M.S., degree in environmental science from the University of Houston-Clear Lake, and his Ph.D. in industrial engineering from Texas Tech University.

He is a registered professional engineer in Texas, a certified industrial hygienist from the American Board of Industrial Hygiene, and a certified safety professional from the Board of Certified Safety Professionals. His professional affiliations include being a Diplomate of the Academy of Industrial Hygiene, and is a member of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, American Industrial Hygiene Association, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers, American Society of Safety Engineers, Institute of Industrial Engineers, and National Fire Protection Association. He served this past year as president of the North Texas Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association.

David R. Porter, research leader and supervisory research geneticist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service in Stillwater, was named professor and head of the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, with tenure. He joined the ARS in 1990, and has held his present position since 2000. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in agronomy from OSU, and his Ph.D. in agronomy from Texas Tech University. He holds memberships in the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Southwestern Wheat Research and Education Consortium, and serves on the steering committee of the International Plant Resistance to Insects.
    
 APPOINTMENTS: Benjamin H. Sandler, assistant professor, biochemistry and molecular biology; Gail W. Wilson, associate professor, natural resource ecology and management; Alecia S. Fischer, clinical instructor, communication sciences and disorders; Christopher A. Francisco, assistant professor, mathematics; Michael Morris, assistant professor, economics and legal studies; Julie G. Dorton and Valerie K. McGaha, assistant professors, applied health and educational psychology; Pavlo D. Antoneko, assistant professor, educational studies; Richard A. Allday and Jamie L. Van Dycke, assistant professors, teaching and curriculum leadership; M.T. Ley, assistant professor, civil and environmental engineering; Wei Yin Rubenstein, assistant professor, mechanical and aerospace engineering; Ronald B. Cox Jr., assistant professor, human development and family science; Stephen Clarke, assistant professor, nutritional sciences; Eileen M. Johnson, clinical associate professor, pathobiology; Myron E. Hinsdale, assistant professor, physiological sciences.
   
CHANGES: Lanny G. Chasteen, accounting professor, appointed to Wilton T. Anderson Professorship; Donald R. Hermann, from associate professor to associate professor and Arthur Anderson Professor, accounting; Charlotte J. Wright, accounting professor, appointed to the Lanny Chasteen Chair of Accounting; Marilyn G. Kletke, from professor and director of MIS program to professor, management science and information systems; Christine K. Ormsbee, change in title from professor and head, teaching and curriculum leadership, to professor, head, and interim associate director of professional education; Amanda Harrist, from associate professor to associate professor and Bryan Close Professor, human development and family science; Deanna Hildebrand, change in title from assistant extension specialist to assistant professor, Cooperative Extension Specialist, nutritional sciences.
   
SABBATICALS: Nandi Satyanarayan, physics, 100 percent sabbatical to conduct research on topics in high energy physics at CERN, located in Geneva, Switzerland, where planned activities will expand and enhance the productivity of the research program while increasing the visibility of OSU, from Sept. 1, 2007, to Jan. 15, 2008; Debra J. Jordan, applied health and educational psychology, 100 percent sabbatical to analyze collected data on project “What Parks Mean to Me,” develop theories from findings, and prepare scholarly publication, from Jan. 7-May 31, 2008.

RETIREMENTS: Marshall E. Allen, Institute for Teaching and Learning Excellence, Oct. 1.

For the OSU Center for Health Sciences, appointments were approved for William D. Cogan, director of academic affairs; Regina M. Lewis, clinical assistant professor and director, family medicine; Rebecca A. Rolando, director, PP clinical financial services; and Mark D. Gage, clinical assistant professor, psychiatry. Changes in title were approved for Bruce A. Benjamin, basic science associate professor, from interim associate dean to associate dean; J. Thomas Curtis, from research assistant professor to assistant professor, pharmacology and physiology; and William J. Pettit, from interim assistant dean for rural health, assistant professor of family medicine and medical director of OSU-COM Academic Health Services, to associate dean and assistant professor, rural health.

Oklahoma’s only university with a statewide presence, Oklahoma State University is a five-campus, public land-grant educational system that improves the lives of people in Oklahoma, the nation, and the world through integrated, high-quality teaching, research and outreach.  Established in 1890, the Stillwater campus is the home of the OSU System.  The STATE’s university boasts students from all 50 states and nearly 120 nations, and has more than 200,000 alumni throughout the world.