University of Iowa Interim Executive Vice President and Provost Sue Curry has named Daniel Clay, dean of the College of Education, and Keri Hornbuckle, Donald E. Bentley Professor of Engineering and professor of occupational and environmental health, to serve as co-chairs of the search committee for a new dean of the College of Engineering.

Alec Scranton, dean of the College of Engineering and UI Foundation Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, announced in January that he will step down on June 30, 2020.

“I am pleased that Dan and Keri have agreed to serve in this capacity and feel confident that they will find excellent candidates,” says Curry. “The leadership experience and long history with the College of Engineering that they bring to the committee will be invaluable.”

Clay has served as professor and dean of the College of Education since 2016. He is a nationally recognized scholar and fellow of the American Educational Research Association and the American Psychological Association. Before coming to the UI, Clay served on the Missouri Innovation Center board of directors, the College of St. Scholastica board of trustees, the Thompson Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities board of directors, and as the dean of the College of Education at the University of Missouri. Clay also served as a tenure-track faculty member from 1997 to 2006 in the UI College of Education’s counseling psychology program.

Hornbuckle joined the UI faculty in 1998 and has served as chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering as well as associate dean for academic programs in the College of Engineering. She is director of the Iowa Superfund Research Program, a multidisciplinary research center funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Her research addresses the fate and transport of persistent and toxic substances in the environment. She is a member of the American Chemical Society, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors, and the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.

The following committee members will join Clay and Hornbuckle in the search.

• Marisol Contreras, graduate student, College of Engineering
• Colin Derdeyn, Krabbenhoft Chair and DEO of the Department of Neurology, professor of radiology, and director of the Iowa Institute of Biomedical Imaging, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine
• Hongtao Ding, associate professor of mechanical engineering, College of Engineering
• Mona Garvin, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, College of Engineering
• Nicole Kallemeyn, associate professor of instruction in biomedical engineering, College of Engineering
• Robert Kress, chair of the College of Engineering Advisory Board and managing director of Accenture Security
• Troy Lyons, principal engineer and director of engineering services at IIHR Hydroscience and Engineering, College of Engineering
• Dan McGehee, associate professor of industrial and systems engineering and director of the National Advanced Driving Simulator, College of Engineering
• Eric Nuxoll, associate professor of chemical and biochemical engineering, College of Engineering
• Elizabeth Simpson, executive director of development for the College of Engineering, UI Center for Advancement
• Charles Stanier, chair of faculty council and professor of chemical and biochemical engineering, College of Engineering
• April Tippett, director of finance, College of Engineering 

The search firm Witt/Kieffer Inc. will assist with the search.

The committee plans to bring final candidates to campus for interviews in the fall. Incoming Provost Montserrat Fuentes will make the final selection in spring 2020.