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By Larry B. Dendy
ldendy@uga.edu
 Gordhan L. Patel, dean of UGA’s Graduate School, will serve as interim vice president for research while a search is under way to find someone to fill the post permanently.
Karen Holbrook, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, has announced that she has appointed Patel to temporarily hold the position after Joe Key retires Nov. 30. Patel will also continue serving as dean of the Graduate School.
Holbrook says Patel will be interim vice president for research-designate until Nov. 30. He began working alongside Key on Oct. 16 to ensure a smooth transition.
“The research office is a complicated operation, and also one of the most important at the university,” Holbrook says. “We need someone in this position who has a strong knowledge of research, administration and faculty, and who has the respect of people in all these groups. Gordhan fits this need perfectly.
“The research office is also understaffed, and Gordhan will provide valuable extra support during this transition,” Holbrook says.
A search committee headed by Svein Oie, dean of the School of Pharmacy, is seeking a successor to Key. The new vice president will not be on the job until after the first of next year.
Patel holds the academic rank of professor of cellular biology, biochemistry and molecular biology. He became dean of the Graduate School in 1989 after serving eight years as head of the zoology (now cellular biology) department. He joined the UGA faculty in 1967 after serving as a research associate and instructor at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Patel specializes in research on proteins involved in unwinding of the DNA double-helix and how those proteins function in regulating genes. His work has been supported by grants from the American Cancer Society, the Atomic Energy Commission, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. He has published his research findings in leading scientific journals and has been invited to lecture at universities and research institutes. |
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