The University of Iowa has initiated a national search for a new vice president for research — a key member of the president’s cabinet — after announcing last week that J. Martin (Marty) Scholtz is resigning after five years.
Scholtz, hired in 2019 following a national search, will remain vice president until his successor starts — negating the need for an interim. Once a new person is in place, Scholtz has agreed to serve a stint in the provost’s office to help spearhead a “campuswide assessment and realignment of research space, equipment, and infrastructure.”
More details of what that might entail haven’t been made public. But 23 units report to the UI Office of the Vice President for Research, including the Office of Animal Resources, Human Subjects Office, Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, and the State Hygienic Lab.
Direct reports to Scholtz include professor Pat Winokur, co-director of the Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, and professor Michael Pentella, who leads the State Hygienic Lab.
Among its core facilities is UI Pharmaceuticals, the largest university-affiliated FDA-registered pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in the nation.
Led by the office, the university in fiscal 2023 secured $704.1 million in external funding, an increasingly-important revenue stream for the campus. That total included $561.3 million for research, about 14 percent below the previous year’s $654.4 million.
After leaving his vice presidential post, Scholtz will continue to hold UI faculty appointments as a biochemistry and molecular biology professor, a chemistry professor, and professor of pharmaceutical sciences and experimental therapeutics in the UI colleges of medicine, liberal arts and sciences, and pharmacy, respectively.
“I am grateful to Marty for his leadership, especially during the challenging impact of the pandemic on scholarly work,” UI President Barbara Wilson said in a statement. “He has stayed very focused on ways to grow our research activities in line with our strategic plan and to bolster scholarly collaborations across campus.”
Scholtz in September was earning a salary of $416,875, according to a UI database. Officials didn’t immediately disclose what his new salary will be once he steps down.
“I am proud of all that we have accomplished to support and expand the research enterprise at the University of Iowa so that researchers and scholars across our institution have access to the resources and infrastructure they need to forge new frontiers of discovery,” Scholtz said in a statement.
While atop the university’s research enterprise, Scholtz helped lead a new campus strategic plan and a period of research expansion. Specific achievements during his tenure include:
Scholtz also engaged in national conversations about research policy “to ensure that UI is well connected to major sources of federal funding such as the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Education, Department of Defense, National Endowment for the Arts, and National Endowment for the Humanities.”
By engaging with large foundations and corporations, Scholtz has linked UI research expertise with their priorities.
When Scholtz was hired five years ago, he stepped into a newly-defined research-specific vice presidential post that separated off what previously had included an economic development component.
He succeeded former UI Vice President for Research and Economic Development Daniel Reed — who resigned in 2017 and in 2018 was named senior vice president for academic affairs at the University of Utah.
Before coming to Iowa, Scholtz served as executive associate vice president for research at Texas A&M — where he had been since 1993 in various roles.
He was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University before Texas A&M and earned his bachelor’s and then doctorate from the Universities of Nebraska and California, Berkeley, respectively.
www.thegazette.com
Scholtz, hired in 2019 following a national search, will remain vice president until his successor starts — negating the need for an interim. Once a new person is in place, Scholtz has agreed to serve a stint in the provost’s office to help spearhead a “campuswide assessment and realignment of research space, equipment, and infrastructure.”
More details of what that might entail haven’t been made public. But 23 units report to the UI Office of the Vice President for Research, including the Office of Animal Resources, Human Subjects Office, Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, and the State Hygienic Lab.
Direct reports to Scholtz include professor Pat Winokur, co-director of the Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, and professor Michael Pentella, who leads the State Hygienic Lab.
Among its core facilities is UI Pharmaceuticals, the largest university-affiliated FDA-registered pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in the nation.
Led by the office, the university in fiscal 2023 secured $704.1 million in external funding, an increasingly-important revenue stream for the campus. That total included $561.3 million for research, about 14 percent below the previous year’s $654.4 million.
After leaving his vice presidential post, Scholtz will continue to hold UI faculty appointments as a biochemistry and molecular biology professor, a chemistry professor, and professor of pharmaceutical sciences and experimental therapeutics in the UI colleges of medicine, liberal arts and sciences, and pharmacy, respectively.
“I am grateful to Marty for his leadership, especially during the challenging impact of the pandemic on scholarly work,” UI President Barbara Wilson said in a statement. “He has stayed very focused on ways to grow our research activities in line with our strategic plan and to bolster scholarly collaborations across campus.”
Scholtz in September was earning a salary of $416,875, according to a UI database. Officials didn’t immediately disclose what his new salary will be once he steps down.
“I am proud of all that we have accomplished to support and expand the research enterprise at the University of Iowa so that researchers and scholars across our institution have access to the resources and infrastructure they need to forge new frontiers of discovery,” Scholtz said in a statement.
Achievements
While atop the university’s research enterprise, Scholtz helped lead a new campus strategic plan and a period of research expansion. Specific achievements during his tenure include:
- Ramping down research operations during COVID and then guiding a phased, safe return to campus;
- Navigating a partnership between the State Hygienic Lab and the state of Iowa to rapidly deliver an at-home testing program for COVID;
- Increasing research expenditures 30 percent from $508 million in 2019 to more than $660 million;
- Diversifying external funding sources for research and expanding funding from private sources, including foundations;
- Hiring two tenured faculty as part-time associate vice presidents for research to focus on broader faculty engagement in scholarly activities.
Scholtz also engaged in national conversations about research policy “to ensure that UI is well connected to major sources of federal funding such as the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Education, Department of Defense, National Endowment for the Arts, and National Endowment for the Humanities.”
By engaging with large foundations and corporations, Scholtz has linked UI research expertise with their priorities.
Pre-Scholtz
When Scholtz was hired five years ago, he stepped into a newly-defined research-specific vice presidential post that separated off what previously had included an economic development component.
He succeeded former UI Vice President for Research and Economic Development Daniel Reed — who resigned in 2017 and in 2018 was named senior vice president for academic affairs at the University of Utah.
Before coming to Iowa, Scholtz served as executive associate vice president for research at Texas A&M — where he had been since 1993 in various roles.
He was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University before Texas A&M and earned his bachelor’s and then doctorate from the Universities of Nebraska and California, Berkeley, respectively.
University of Iowa seeking new VP for research after resignation
The University of Iowa has initiated a national search for a new vice president for research — a key member of the president’s cabinet — after announcing last week that J. Martin (Marty) Scholtz is resigning after five years.
www.thegazette.com
