Teamwork: New Graduate School Dean Begins Duties

Will Cantrell is having encounters garnered for the duration of almost two a long time at Michigan
Technological College into his new purpose as affiliate provost and dean of the Graduate
School—a career he calls “a privilege.”

Final month, Jacqueline Huntoon, provost and senior vice president for tutorial affairs,
declared that Cantrell, then the affiliate dean of the Graduate College and exiting
director of the Earth, Planetary and Place Sciences Institute (EPSSI), would assume his new purpose as dean on July 1. 

“It is a privilege to be entrusted with this position,” reported Cantrell. “I am grateful for the assist and mentorship that I have gained from my pals
and colleagues more than the previous 19 many years at Michigan Tech. I would not have been in the
position to do well in this energy without having that assist.”

He succeeds Pusphalatha Murthy, who is operating with Cantrell to guarantee a easy changeover.
While no extended Graduate College dean, Murthy will carry on to serve on the Graduate
Education and learning Advisory Board of the American Chemical Society and remain active with the
Council of Graduate Educational facilities and the Countrywide Science Basis.

A history of leadership

As Cantrell begins his twentieth yr at Michigan Tech, things glance a whole lot various than
they did in 2001. You could even say that the state of affairs is significantly various
than in 2019. But, as the University plans for a drop semester commencing for the duration of the
COVID-19 pandemic, Cantrell’s friends are confident in his skills as a chief and
an educator.

“Dr. Cantrell has a lengthy history of giving thoughtful leadership that, mixed
with his effectively-attained popularity as an powerful researcher and teacher, make him effectively
well prepared to assume this critical purpose,” Huntoon reported in her June announcement.

A strong blend

Cantrell reported the Graduate College performs an critical purpose at the College, noting that graduate instruction at Michigan
Tech is a unique blend of the questions “Why?” and “How?” with theory and exercise. “That’s a strong blend, and our learners are valued
by marketplace and by other tutorial institutions since of it,” he reported.

Cantrell has viewed his share of issues for the duration of his tenure at Michigan Tech, but
maybe none as remarkable as the COVID-19 pandemic. He reported the pandemic is a major
trial from many perspectives.

“Of class, there are the fiscal pressures,” he reported. “Our learners and their people are facing them, the state is facing them and as a
consequence, so is Michigan Tech.”

Cantrell’s other illustration is a thing that will be happening all through MTU’s campus
this drop.

“The social distancing that is necessary to protect the protection of our learners, staff members
and school also helps make instruction in the classroom and the lab far more hard. Nevertheless
we have to carry on to stay into our shared values of local community, respect, diversity and
inclusion,” he reported.

Cantrell joined Tech’s Physics Department in 2001 right after earning his PhD from the College of Alaska Fairbanks and finishing
a postdoc in chemistry at Indiana College. His investigation passions consist of atmospheric
science, cloud and aerosol physics and chemistry. He is a member of the Michigan Tech
crew that built and constructed the Pi Cloud Chamber, which simulates cloud circumstances and will allow for experimentation such as turbulence
and varying aerosol sizes and compositions.

In 2013, Cantrell was named Distinguished Professor of the 12 months by the Presidents
Council, Point out Universities of Michigan.

Michigan Technological College is a community investigation college, home to far more than
7,000 learners from fifty four nations. Started in 1885, the College provides far more than
120 undergraduate and graduate degree packages in science and engineering, engineering,
forestry, small business and economics, wellbeing professions, humanities, mathematics, and
social sciences. Our campus in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula overlooks the Keweenaw Waterway
and is just a few miles from Lake Exceptional.