Gazette
masthead
   About The Gazette Search Back Issues Contact Us    
The newspaper of The Johns Hopkins University October 1, 2007 | Vol. 37 No. 5
 
Ted Poehler to Step Down From Post as Vice Provost for Research

Ted Poehler, longtime vice provost for research at Johns Hopkins, has decided to step down as of Dec. 31 and, following a one-year sabbatical, will return to the faculty as a research professor in the Whiting School of Engineering to continue his work in conducting polymers.

In making the announcement, Kristina M. Johnson, the university's new provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, said, "As a newcomer, I have had the pleasure of working directly with Ted for only a short time, but I already have come to enjoy tremendously his genial demeanor, good humor and encyclopedic knowledge of the research enterprise at Johns Hopkins."

In his 15 years as vice provost, Johnson said, Poehler has contributed tremendously to the enterprise. His relationship with Johns Hopkins began in 1952, when he enrolled as a freshman. Earning his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees under presidents Bronk, Reed and Eisenhower, he has gone on to serve as a researcher, teacher and senior administrator under presidents Eisenhower, Gordon, Muller, Richardson, Nathans and Brody.

Among Poehler's contributions as a faculty member and administrator:

He has worked to strengthen the operation, facilities and staffing of the university's animal care and use program.

He has chaired the Institutional Compliance Oversight Committee, which in its first two years has made important recommendations for enhancing Johns Hopkins' performance in diverse compliance areas.

He has overseen the building of the Office of Research Projects Administration into a model of effective and efficient sponsored projects administration.

He has helped establish important interdisciplinary research efforts such as the new Human Language Technology Center of Excellence and the Institute for NanoBiotechnology.

He also has represented Johns Hopkins "superbly," Johnson said, outside the university, as chair of the board of the Emerging Technology Center, vice chair of Maryland Technology Development Corp., chair of the Chesapeake Research Consortium and board member of the Astrophysical Research Consortium, among other roles.

The author or co-author of 154 papers and holder of 14 patents, Poehler has been a highly productive and widely regarded researcher in areas as diverse as electronic materials, gas lasers, organic and metallo-organic compounds and conducting polymers.

He conducted and supervised research at the Applied Physics Laboratory and has directed APL's Evening College Center, APL's Milton S. Eisenhower Research Center and the Whiting School's part-time programs. Before joining the Provost's Office, he was associate dean for research in the Whiting School from 1990 to 1992.

As vice provost, Poehler said, one of his most satisfying — and most important — roles has been the grooming of future researchers and scholars through his leadership of the annual Provost's Undergraduate Research Awards.

Other research-related activities within the university included serving as vice chair of the JHPIEGO board of directors; supervising interdivisional nominations and fellowship awards; chairing the APL Partnership Program, Committee on Research Information Practices, JHTT Oversight Committee and Cigarette Restitution Fund board; and serving as a member of the Joint Committee on Health, Safety and Environment.

He also has represented Johns Hopkins in responding to and advising on federal policies, regulations and actions that affect academic research.

The provost said that the university is preparing to launch a search for Poehler's successor as vice provost for research.

GO TO OCTOBER 1, 2007 TABLE OF CONTENTS.
GO TO THE GAZETTE FRONT PAGE.


The Gazette | The Johns Hopkins University | Suite 540 | 901 S. Bond St. | Baltimore, MD 21231 | 443-287-9900 | gazette@jhu.edu