January 5, 2004

George L. McLendon, Russell Wellman Moore Professor of Chemistry and chair of the chemistry department at Princeton University, will become Duke University’s next dean of the faculty of
Arts and Sciences (A&S), Duke Provost Peter Lange announced Monday.

McLendon’s appointment takes effect July 1, 2004. He will succeed William H. Chafe, a historian who has served as dean since 1995. Chafe announced last March that he would leave his administrative post to return full-time to teaching and research in July.

Lange called McLendon a scientist and academic leader of unusual breadth, one who had who has demonstrated a strong commitment to academic excellence in both teaching and research.

“Professor McLendon brings an established record of interdisciplinary scholarship, high standards, great energy and strong aspirations to work with the faculty to realize our ambitions across Arts and Sciences and the university. His experience as a student, scholar and chair at a diverse set of leading institutions means he will bring to the position a refreshing perspective, even as he learns Duke’s strengths and unique qualities,” Lange said. “George has a quick intelligence and has earned an outstanding record as a mentor to undergraduate and graduate students.”

Lange said McLendon also had taken initiatives that showed his “deep commitment to the ways universities and their faculty can and should serve the broader society,” citing the development of an on-line advanced placement course in chemistry for school districts whose high schools cannot afford or do not offer an AP course in chemistry.

A native of Texas, McLendon was recommended by an 11-member campus search committee chaired by Thomas A DiPrete, professor and director of undergraduate studies in Duke’s sociology department. The committee reviewed some 130 internal and external candidates.

McLendon has achieved “a demonstrated record as a program builder” and impressed the search committee with “his commitment to open and close relations between administration and faculty,” DiPrete said.

“George is also a superb speaker with a deep interest in both undergraduate and graduate education, and has the vision, skills and energy needed to advance Duke’s standing among the nation’s premier research universities.”

McLendon will take the helm of the academic unit that lies at the heart of Duke. Arts and Sciences includes Trinity College, where about 85 percent of Duke’s undergraduates are enrolled, and many of the programs in the graduate school. Nearly 600 faculty members in A&S departments and programs teach courses ranging from quantum physics to Chinese philosophy, with many also participating in interdisciplinary units. Some 5,300 undergraduates are enrolled in Trinity College, and undergraduates from the Pratt School of Engineering –- now numbering about 900 but due to expand to nearly 1,100 over the next several years -- take about half their courses there. The Graduate School trains about 1,200 students for professions in the arts and sciences as well as in divinity, business, environmental and earth sciences, and engineering.

“George McLendon will be a superb leader for Arts and Sciences,” said Duke President Nannerl O. Keohane. “He will also be part of an exceptionally strong team along with Provost Lange and Dick Brodhead, who will assume the presidency of Duke at the same time. George impressed all of us as a first-class teacher, researcher and administrator who knows how to inspire people to think boldly and strategically.”

McLendon said Duke is unusual in having its A&S core bound so tightly to the rest of the university. “Arts and Sciences is in remarkable proximity to several truly great professional schools, and there are opportunities to build new bridges to enrich undergraduate and graduate studies,” he said. Possible examples involve genomics, chemical biology or quantitative biology, or new ties between social science departments and the Fuqua School of Business.

Similarly, McLendon welcomes collaborations with the Pratt School of Engineering, saying “it is not merely that Arts and Sciences can provide an education to engineering students; the reverse is also true. We want students to think about the issues raised by technology before they are in the middle of them.”
McLendon said he is impressed by the strength of many A&S programs, from high-energy physics to arts and humanities departments that “are doing absolutely wonderful things and are traditionally a source of strength at Duke.”

He also emphasized the importance of building on existing successes in undergraduate education. Duke’s Focus Program, in which first-year students examine one topic from various perspectives, for example, might be complemented with a range of new “capstone experiences” for juniors and seniors. Similarly, graduate students might benefit from enhanced opportunities for teaching and mentoring, creating what McLendon called “a learning continuum” that strengthens ties across the university.

The new dean said he also looks forward to collaborations with other universities in the Triangle and to supporting efforts to strengthen Duke’s ties with Durham and North Carolina.

Citing a recent study by Duke Student Government that expressed concern about retaining Duke’s special character, McLendon said, “I think they had a good point when they said, ‘We don’t want to be another Ivy.’ There’s something uniquely special about Duke. It’s a lot younger than a place like Princeton, and much more flexible in thinking about what it wants to become.”

McLendon joined Princeton in 1995 as the Russell Wellman Moore Professor of Chemistry. A year later, he became chair of the chemistry department, a position he had held at the University of Rochester, where he was the Tracy H. Harris Professor of Chemistry. McLendon joined the University of Rochester faculty in 1976 after receiving his Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Texas A&M University. He earned his B.S. degree magna cum laude from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1972.

In recent years, McLendon’s research has focused on the interaction of large biological molecules, electron transfer in chemical and biological systems, and protein chemistry in processes such as the cellular control of apoptosis, the “programmed cell death” process that affects both normal development and a range of diseases. Some of his research has been applied in new diagnostic techniques for cancer. A longer description of his work is available online at http://www.princeton.edu/~glm.

In addition to his research and teaching, McLendon has been an active member of the Princeton community. He has served on two key university committees, one that recommends academic and financial priorities to Princeton’s president and provost to guide annual campus-wide budget planning, and another that reviews faculty tenure appointments and recruitments across all disciplines.

H e also has been a leader in promoting interdisciplinary efforts in numerous fields, including materials research, photonics and environmental studies, which are priority areas in Duke’s long-range academic plan, “Building on Excellence.” He has consulted widely in industry and serves on the boards of several start-up companies. He is the founder of Apop, a biotechnology company that focuses on cancer diagnostics and therapeutics.

McLendon has received a number of awards and was named an honorary fellow of Worcester College in Oxford, a Guggenheim Fellow and an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow.

A self-described “fanatic collector” of historic Native American art from the Southwest, McLendon comes from a family whose Texas roots extend eight generations. His wife, Terry, is a physician, and their two daughters are both pursuing careers as teachers. McLendon also claims ancestors who lived in North Carolina a century before the American Revolution. “It’s a full circle now for the McLendons coming back to North Carolina,” he said with a laugh.

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