May 28, 2013

Dear Colleague,

It is with great pleasure that I announce H. Rodger Harvey, professor and chair of the Department of Ocean, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (OEAS), has agreed to serve as interim vice president for research, effective July 22, 2013.

He will assume the duties of Dr. Mohammad Karim, who is stepping down July 22, 2013 to join the University of Massachusetts' Dartmouth campus as provost and executive vice-chancellor. Dr. Harvey will begin working immediately with Dr. Karim and Dr. Karen Eck, director of research development, to ensure a smooth transition.

We will launch a national search for the vice president position later this year.

Professor Harvey, a noted researcher who joined Old Dominion in 2011, has played a key role in the university's Climate Change and Sea Level Rise Initiative. I have no doubt that the same excellence for which he is known in his own area of research will be the guiding principle he uses to steward the Old Dominion research program.

He previously directed the Maryland Organic Geochemistry and Ecology Laboratory, which is part of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory of the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science (UMCES). He joined UMCES in 1989 and became a full professor in 2000. His research interests include organic geochemistry and biogeochemistry in marine waters.

Dr. Harvey received his bachelor's degree in biology and chemistry from Virginia Tech and his Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Georgia.

I want to again thank Dr. Karim for his contributions, and I look forward to working with Dr. Harvey in this next chapter of Old Dominion University's research endeavors.

Sincerely,

John R. Broderick
President