The search committee charged with selecting the next vice president for research at the University of Iowa has a new co-chair.

Dorothy Johnson, Roy J. Carver Professor of Art History in the School of Art and Art History, will replace David Gier, director of the School of Music, and Erich Funke, professor in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Gier has accepted a position as dean of the School of Music, Theatre and Dance at the University of Michigan. His last day at Iowa will be Sept. 13.

Johnson joins Aliasger Salem, the Lyle and Sharon Bighley Endowed Chair and Professor in Pharmaceutical Sciences in the College of Pharmacy, as co-chair of the committee.

“I am pleased that Dorothy has agreed to serve the university in this capacity. We thank David for his service to the UI and wish him all the best at the University of Michigan,” UI President J. Bruce Harreld says. “I have full confidence the committee will find the right person to lead the areas of scholarship and research that are so vital to our mission.”

Johnson also serves as the head of the Art History Division and the director of undergraduate studies in Art History, both in the School of Art and Art History.

In addition, search committee member Tonya Peeples, professor in chemical and biochemical engineering and associate dean for diversity and outreach in the UI College of Engineering, has accepted a new position at Penn State University.