Interim Dean Of Science To Leave For Kentucky

4-17-98
University Park, Pa. -- Howard Grotch, interim dean of the Eberly College of Science and professor of physics, announced yesterday (April 16) that he has accepted an offer to become dean of arts and sciences at the University of Kentucky, and intends to resign from Penn State July 1.

"Since becoming interim dean last May, Howard has moved the college forward on a number of fronts, including faculty recruitment, fund raising and undergraduate education. We are sorry to lose him, but wish him well in his new post. He has been a valued member of the Penn State faculty since 1968," said Vice President and Provost John Brighton.

In a letter to college faculty and staff yesterday, Grotch said, "It has been a delight to work with such a talented and loyal staff and with excellent committed department heads and faculty. It also has been extremely rewarding to play a role in the advancement of the Eberly College of Science."

Grotch, a Fellow of the American Physical Society, is a specialist in quantum electrodynamics and elementary particle physics. He conducts research on the structure of positronium, the Lamb shift and quarkonium and is the author of more than 90 research articles and co-author of a physics textbook.

He joined Penn State as a research associate, was promoted to full professor in 1976 and appointed head of the Department of Physics in 1988, a position he still holds. A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Grotch earned his undergraduate degree in physics at the City College of New York and his doctorate in physics from Cornell University.

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Contact: Christy Rambeau (814) 865-7517 or email at cmr7@psu.edu