Steele to head Geisinger; Weir, Rowley to serve as Interim Deans; Sussman will be VP at MacArthur

Weir, the Maurice Goldblatt Professor in Surgery and Neurology, has created the position of Interim Deputy Dean for Science and has appointed Janet Davison-Rowley, the Blum-Riese Distinguished Service Professor in Medicine, Molecular Genetics & Cell Biology and Human Genetics, to serve in that capacity.

Arthur Sussman, General Counsel and Vice President for Administration, has accepted an appointment as Vice President and Secretary of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. A national search for Sussman’s successor is underway.

As President and CEO of Geisinger, Steele, who has served nearly six years in his current appointments, will be leading the largest integrated rural health-care system in the United States.

“Since coming to the University in 1995, Glenn has recruited an absolutely first-rank group of new faculty members, department chairs and distinguished researchers,” wrote President Randel in a letter to University faculty and deans. “He has been a leader in developing our new joint research institute for the biological and physical sciences as well as several new research centers that span traditional boundaries.”

Steele wrote in a letter to the BSD faculty, “I want you to know what an honor it has been during the past six years to be at Chicago and to serve its faculty. This has been an extraordinarily interesting and productive time of program building and facilities renewal and expansion. I will miss the University and will look back fondly on my time here.”

As Dean, Steele also has guided the establishment and growth of the new departments of Human Genetics and Health Studies, strengthening the University’s research capacity.

“Through his hiring of outstanding colleagues and by instilling a sense of confidence and opportunity, he is leaving the division much stronger than he found it, and the University is indebted to him for that,” wrote Randel.

An internationally distinguished neurosurgeon, Weir has been a member of the faculty since 1992. He currently is Chief of the Section of Neurosurgery and Director of the Brain Research Institute. In 1997, Weir was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

Weir has been a visiting professor at such institutions as Harvard, Yale, Cornell, the University of Michigan, the University of Toronto, the University of Melbourne and the University of Tokyo as well as the Mayo Clinic.

“At this time of transition, we are fortunate, indeed, that Dr. Weir has graciously agreed to undertake this responsibility on our behalf,” wrote President Randel in a letter to University faculty and deans.

Weir established the Interim Deputy Dean for Science to add to the central governance of the Division. Davison-Rowley, who has been a faculty member since 1962, received the National Medal of Science, the nation’s highest scientific honor, in 1998. Her research has been focused on recurring chromosome abnormalities in leukemia and lymphoma.

Rowley also is the recipient of the American Academy of Achievement Award, the Lasker Prize and the Gairdner Award. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.

Sussman, who served for 21 years under the leadership of three University Presidents, will become Vice President and Secretary of the MacArthur Foundation. “This is as wonderful news for the MacArthur Foundation at it is sad news for us,” wrote Randel in a letter to faculty.

Sussman has provided guidance and advice in many areas beyond his appointment as chief legal officer. He has managed the University’s government relations program and advised presidents on numerous issues involving University governance, organization, research and technology transfer. He has overseen the operations of the Laboratory Schools and the University Dean of Students Office and guided initiatives to improve the quality of student life.

Sussman developed and administered University policies regarding labor, personnel and benefits, and he oversaw all operations of Argonne National Laboratory and its 4,000 employees.

He also served the community in a number of ways. He was a lecturer in the Law School and the Graduate School of Business, and he and his wife, Rita, served for five years as Resident Masters in Woodward Court. Sussman also served on boards for the Chapin Hall Center for Children, the University charter school and the ARCH Development Corporation

“Art has offered good counsel, wise analysis and selfless citizenship to our community. My predecessors and I have relied on him heavily, and he has responded by making innumerable contributions to our University’s welfare and successes,” wrote Randel.