Faculty and Staff Notes

Murphrey Named System’s Vice President for Finance

Ernest G. Murphrey, associate vice chancellor for financial services, will become vice president for finance of the multi-campus University of North Carolina, effective April 5.

As chief financial officer, Murphrey will act for UNC’s president in all financial matters, overseeing a budget of $7.4 billion. He will provide staff support for the UNC Board of Governors’ Committee on Budget and Finance; work closely with the board, president and other senior staff members to develop policies and programs; and help represent the system before various legislative and government groups.

Murphrey has more than three decades of university experience at both the campus and system levels. In his current position, Murphrey oversees NC State’s Financial Services Division. Before joining NC State in 2001, he served for nearly four years as vice chancellor for business and finance at Elizabeth City State University. He previously held financial management positions at UNC-Chapel Hill (1978-81), NC State (1981-89), the Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia (1989-93) and the Georgia Institute of Technology (1993-97). Murphrey holds undergraduate and master’s degrees in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Joseph DeSimone, a polymer expert, was honored for research.

American Chemical Society Honors DeSimone

Dr. Joseph DeSimone, William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering, has been honored by the American Chemical Society for outstanding contributions to chemistry research.

DeSimone received the Harrison Howe Award, named for one of the founders of the society’s Rochester section who was a champion of industrial research and development. The award recognizes early career researchers who have the potential for further exceptional achievements. Forty percent of winners have gone on to receive the Nobel Prize in chemistry.

A polymer expert, DeSimone has developed groundbreaking solutions in green manufacturing and promising applications in gene therapy, drug delivery and medical devices. In 2008, DeSimone won the Lemelson-MIT Prize, known as the Oscar for inventors. In 2009, he received a National Institutes of Health Pioneer Award.

Beichner Named American Council on Education Fellow

Robert Beichner, Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Professor of Physics, has been named an American Council on Education fellow for the 2010-11 academic year.

The ACE Fellows Program, established in 1965, equips promising senior faculty and administrators for leadership roles. Each fellow will focus on an issue of concern to the nominating institution while spending a semester working with a university president and senior officers at a host institution. Of the nearly 1,700 participants in the first 45 years of the program, more than 300 have become chief executive officers and more than 1,100 have become provosts, vice presidents or deans.

Beichner, who joined the faculty in 1992, directs the university’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education Initiative. He was recently named the North Carolina Professor of the Year as well as the National Undergraduate Science Teacher of the Year.

Staff Input Sought for System President Search

Staff members, here’s your chance to shape the search for a new University of North Carolina system president. Your responses to an online survey will become part of a leadership statement that will be used in the search for a successor to Erskine Bowles, who has announced his retirement. Online responses are due by 5 p.m. Thursday, April 8. The UNC President Leadership Statement Staff Survey takes about 10 minutes to complete. If you have questions, you can e-mail Kelley N. Eaves-Boykin, UNC Staff Assembly chair, at  kneavesb@uncc.edu or contact Steve Carlton, Staff Senate chair, at 515-5963 or steve_carlton@ncsu.edu. 

Your landscaping worries are over. NC State's nifty dwarf butterfly bush is the best new plant of the year.

Dwarf Butterfly Bush Named Best New Plant

Lo & Behold "Blue Chip" Buddleia (butterfly bush), developed by Dennis Werner and Layne Snelling in the horticultural science department, was named the best new plant for 2009 and received a gold medal at the Salon Du Végétal Nursery Show in France. The annual meeting has some 600 exhibitors and over 16,000 professional visitors. Lo & Behold "Blue Chip" was released by NC State in 2008, and is the first dwarf butterfly bush available in the trade.

Marshall Recognized

Lisa M. Marshall, director of outreach in the Department of Nuclear Engineering, has received the Landis Public Communication and Education Award from the American Nuclear Society. The award recognizes outstanding efforts, dedication and accomplishment in furthering public education and understanding of the peaceful applications of nuclear technology.

Marshall’s responsibilities include recruiting and advising students, coordinating scholarships and fellowships, working in career development and alumni relations, teaching an introductory engineering course section and advising the American Nuclear Society student chapter. Her research interests include engineering studies and STEM education. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Carleton University in Canada and a graduate certificate in geographic information systems from NC State. She is currently completing her doctorate part time.

Libraries Lauded for Course Views Site

The American Library Association’s Office for Information Technology Policy has honored NC State Libraries for cutting-edge technologies in library services for the Course Views Web site.

Course Views highlights resources and discusses how to approach research for every course at the university.  The site was developed in response to the difficulty of creating and maintaining enough course pages – recommended resources for specific courses and assignments – to meet students’ needs. The Course Views system provides pages for all 6,000 courses offered by more than 150 departments. Course Views automates the creation of these pages, making them cost-effective for the long run.

Kim Duckett, principal librarian for digital technologies and learning, was named by Library Journal, the most prestigious publication in the field, as a “Mover and Shaker” for the project. This honor recognizes librarians, vendors and others who are pioneers in shaping the future of libraries.

View Graduate Research Symposium Winners

Curious about who had the winning entries in the Graduate Research Symposium? Photos and information are available online, along with abstracts for all entries and an archive of past winners. Check out the symposium Web page.

Ready, Set, Go for Google

More than 3,000 NC State students can now use enhanced e-mail services and new online tools with the university’s launch this week of the beta version of Google Apps @ NC State. They will receive Gmail accounts with more than 7 gigabytes of storage space and access to Google Apps collaboration tools, all from their official @ncsu.edu e-mail addresses.

NC State announced in January that it would deploy Google Apps Education Edition as its official university e-mail service for students. The switch was recommended by the Student E-mail Task Force in its March 2009 report, which stated the move would help the university improve technology services for students while reducing costs. Students were asked to participate in the beta service by requesting an invitation on the Google Apps @ NC State Web site.