Miami University's graduate school will be welcoming a new dean in the upcoming school year, as Bruce Cochrane has been named associate provost for research and scholarship as well as the dean of the Graduate School.
According to Gil Pacey, associate dean of research in the Graduate School, Provost Jeffrey Herbst selected Cochrane, with the agreement of President David Hodge, after a six-month search among a sizable field of potential candidates earlier this month.
"(Cochrane) was chosen because of his administrative experience," Pacey said.
Cochrane will assume his new position Aug. 1.
Formerly, Cochrane was a professor of biology at the University of South Florida, as well as the associate dean for graduate and undergraduate studies in South Florida's College of Arts and Sciences, according to Pacey. Cochrane has been there for approximately 25 years.
However, those expecting sweeping changes in the graduate programs and the lives of its students will more than likely be disappointed.
"(Cochrane) might change things on an administrative level," said Lynsie Stout, a graduate student in physical education, health and sports studies, "but he will probably not change anything in the everyday lives of the individual students."
According to Pacey, Cochrane's predecessor, John Hughes, left his post in July 2006 to become the new provost at the University of Vermont. He noted that only two men have held the position in the past 30 years, making it one of the most unchanging positions on Miami's campus.
Pacey said that Cochrane will be responsible for numerous operations within the graduate school including maintaining the quality of its programs, recruiting students and completing external program reviews every five years.
Due to financial restraint, the graduate school has only a few new plans, but Pacey said the school will be looking to modernize its admissions process and ease the application process.
Although relatively quite compared to the undergraduate population, the graduate school constitutes of only 10 percent of the student population at Miami.
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"(At 10 percent of the student population), that's a hair small for a school our size," Pacey said.
He also noted that the science and education graduate programs offered at Miami are recognized statewide and nationally and attract many students.
"Many graduates of these programs have gone on to become professors at other schools, a sign of the programs' strength," Pacey said.
Preceding Hughes, Bob Johnson was the dean of the Graduate School for 28 years before his retirement.
Jeffrey Potteiger has been serving as the interim dean of the graduate school since July 1 of 2006, directly after Hughes' departure.
According to Cochrane's cover letter, while serving in the dean's office at South Florida, Cochrane implemented new doctoral programs in social work, environmental sciences and geography with other programs still pending.
Cochrane received a bachelor's degree in biology from Cornell University. He later earned a master's in zoology and a doctorate in genetics, both from Indiana University.
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