Marc Armstrong, professor in the Department of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences and the chair of the Department of Cinema and Comparative Literature, has been appointed associate dean for Graduate and Online Education in the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS), effective Jan. 15, 2014.

This is a new position that will provide the college with an effective leader for liberal arts and sciences graduate programs and an innovative academic who can develop the emerging possibilities of online education.

In his new role, Armstrong will work closely with departments and with the UI Graduate College to offer leadership and assessment of graduate programs. In addition to overseeing graduate education and research, he will guide distance and online education; coordinate and expand international education initiatives and linkages; strengthen noncredit opportunities and develop a strategic plan for the college’s outreach efforts.

CLAS Dean Chaden Djalali welcomes Armstrong to the college’s administrative team.

“The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is delighted to have professor Marc Armstrong step into this crucial new role,” Djalali says. “Graduate education and research are cornerstones of our college’s mission, and online education is an important new trend in higher education. Having Marc on board to shape the future of these areas will ensure that we stay innovative, competitive and true to our traditional educational values.”

Armstrong has served as interim associate dean for CLAS and as chair in his own department, as well as interim chair for five other CLAS units, guiding these programs during difficult transitions. Additionally, he has experience on the Graduate Council, is a faculty member in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Informatics, has received the UI President's Instructional Technology Innovation Award and was named a CLAS Collegiate Fellow.

Armstrong earned his doctorate in geography from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A primary focus of his research is on the use of parallel computing to improve the performance of spatial analysis methods. Other active areas of interest are in mobile computing, privacy aspects of geo-spatial technologies and evolutionary computation.