Exciting Leadership Additions for Rutgers–New Brunswick

February 2, 2022

Dear Rutgers University­–New Brunswick Community,

This spring, four exciting new leadership additions will highlight our status as a national model in world-renowned research into the complex genetic factors that influence disease; in understanding climate change and related planetary challenges; in higher education administration that transforms the lives of students and benefits communities; and in exhibiting and interpreting the arts.

I am delighted to announce these new leaders on the Banks of the Old Raritan—James Knowles, Julie Lockwood, Emily Chan, and Maura Reilly:

James A. Knowles, Ph.D.: Director of the Human Genetics Institute of New Jersey (HGINJ)

James A. Knowles, an internationally recognized human geneticist and psychiatrist, will serve as Director of the Human Genetics Institute of New Jersey (HGINJ), and as Distinguished Professor of Genetics in the School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Genetics, beginning this spring.

Dr. Knowles previously served at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences in Brooklyn, New York, as Professor and Chair of the Department of Cell Biology, and as Deputy Director of the Institute for Genomic Health. He is a board-certified psychiatrist and a psychiatric geneticist with significant experience in large-scale collaborations. His early research resulted in the discovery of the genes for two inherited disorders, renitis pigmentosa and primary pulmonary hypertension, but most of his work has been on the genetics of complex psychiatric disorders with major genetic components, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, panic disorder, nicotine and opiate addiction, early-onset depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. He was co-leader of the first genome-wide association study of obsessive-compulsive disorder and a co-investigator of the Genomic Psychiatry Cohort. He is a key collaborator in several international collaborations such as the BrainSpan project, the PsychENCODE Consortium, and the Whole Genome Sequencing of Psychiatric Disorders Consortium. Dr. Knowles has published more than 250 peer-reviewed studies in the areas of genetics, epigenetics, transcriptomics, brain development, neuroscience, and psychiatry.

HGINJ is devoted to the understanding of the diverse genetic factors that interplay with environmental components to influence diseases such as cancer, stroke, and others that produce the greatest human impact in terms of morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs, with the goal of fueling treatments and cures. The institute leverages the strengths of Rutgers–New Brunswick and RBHS with state-of-the-art facilities for high-throughput DNA analysis, providing academic and corporate colleagues with the expertise and resources to coordinate large-scale gene discovery and research into the interplay between genetic attributes and response to therapeutic drugs. HGINJ has attracted top-notch scientists, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students to provide the critical mass for a nationally renowned program in human genetics.

Dr. Knowles succeeds Jay Tischfield, who served as the Founding Chair of the School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Genetics for 12 years and as HGINJ Director for the past 18 years. During that time, Dr. Tischfield helped HGINJ make Rutgers an international leader in genetics research and education, while also training the next generation of researchers and teachers. Dr. Tischfield will continue serving as Duncan and Nancy MacMillan Distinguished Professor of Genetics and as professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Julie Lockwood, Ph.D.: Interim Director of the Rutgers Institute of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences (EOAS)

Julie Lockwood, professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, will serve as Interim Director of the Rutgers Institute of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences (EOAS) beginning Feb. 3.

Dr. Lockwood brings strong leadership to EOAS, especially through her expertise in the ways human behavior alters the Earth’s biosphere and profoundly impacts other species. A Rutgers faculty member since 2004, Dr. Lockwood is a global leader in the study of invasive species and the negative economic, ecological, and social impacts they can impose. She is also a strong mentor of students, having earned the 2020 Excellence Award in Graduate Student Mentoring from the Rutgers School of Graduate Studies. Along with her research students, Dr. Lockwood has provided critical scientific evidence for the conservation and restoration of native species in the face of massive land use changes, sea level rise, human alteration of rivers and estuaries, and the overexploitation of animals in the wildlife trade. Her work on the rising rates of species invasions and extinctions has led to widespread recognition of global-scale shifts in biodiversity, which she and her colleagues have termed “biotic homogenization.” Dr. Lockwood is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Ecological Society of America, and contributes to the United Nations intergovernmental Science-Society Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.

EOAS, created in 2015 to more tightly link our Earth system science disciplines, is a multidisciplinary community of researchers across six schools. EOAS has united more than 100 faculty, researchers, and graduate students studying Earth’s interior, continents, oceans, atmosphere, and biosphere, their interactions throughout Earth’s history, and their effect on human civilization today. EOAS provides a strong platform for an integrated approach to climate change, biodiversity loss, and the disruption of global biogeochemical cycles. It advances the fundamental scientific understanding of our home planet, and the knowledge and perspective needed for regional and planetary environmental stewardship.

Dr. Lockwood succeeds Dr. Robert Kopp, professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the School of Arts and Sciences, who served as EOAS director since 2017. Under Dr. Kopp’s leadership, EOAS attracted $23 million in external support for projects in the Coastal Climate Risk & Resilience (C2R2) graduate traineeship and the new Megalopolitan Coastal Transformation Hub (MACH). The institute gained 40 graduate students in the C2R2 certificate program, many of whom now have public- or private-sector jobs related to climate adaptation. In addition, EOAS under his leadership provided support for 59 SEBS graduate assistants, 17 institute postdoctoral associates, and 16 research and instructional seed projects; and developed the first strategic plan for the Rutgers Earth system science community. Dr. Kopp currently serves as the director of MACH, a five-year, 11-institution collaboration supported by NSF, and as co-director of the new University Office of Climate Action, which is charged with implementing the university’s Climate Action Plan.

Emily Chan, Ph.D.: Colorado College Vice President Fulfilling the ACE Fellowship Program at Rutgers–New Brunswick

Dr. Emily Chan, who serves at Colorado College as Vice President and Dean of the Faculty, joined my office in January for a Spring semester ACE Fellowship.

The ACE Fellowship, a program of the American Council on Education, is a leadership development initiative that prepares college and university faculty, staff, and administrators for senior positions. During her placement in the Chancellor-Provost’s office, Dr. Chan will observe and work with me and my leadership team, and will benefit Rutgers–New Brunswick with her valuable perspectives and expertise on important emerging academic issues.

Dr. Chan, a professor of psychology, has earned widespread respect for her teaching and commitment to student learning, and is known as a collaborative changemaker and mentor. Her responsibilities as Colorado College’s Dean of the Faculty include facilitating and supporting professional excellence, integrity, diversity, and the thriving of the faculty community; and primary responsibility for faculty affairs such as faculty recruitment and hiring, the shape and growth of the faculty, career development, departmental and curricular affairs, and a broad range of strategic and long-range planning.

She previously served Colorado College as chairperson of its Faculty Executive Committee, director of its Bridge Scholars Program, and director of Race, Ethnicity, and Migration Studies. She chaired Colorado College’s Task Force for Academic Continuity to ensure continued delivery of the academic program at the onset of the pandemic in 2020. Previously, she served as the college’s associate dean of academic programs and strategic initiatives. Her commitment to diversity and inclusion has been a through line in Dr. Chan’s teaching, scholarship, and college service.

Maura Reilly, Ph.D.: New Director of the Zimmerli Art Museum

Maura Reilly, a curator, writer, art consultant, and non-profit leader who has organized dozens of exhibitions internationally with a focus on marginalized artists, has been named the new director of Rutgers–New Brunswick’s Zimmerli Art Museum. She will join the museum on February 15.

Dr. Reilly is the founding curator of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum, where she developed and launched the first exhibition and public programming space in the United States devoted entirely to feminist art. While there, she organized several landmark exhibitions, including the permanent installation of Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party and the blockbuster Global Feminisms (co-curated with Linda Nochlin), among others. She has also served as executive director and chief curator of the National Academy of Design and as senior curator at the American Federation of Arts. Dr. Reilly received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Art History from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University.

Director Reilly succeeds Donna Gustafson, who served as Zimmerli’s interim director and will continue as curator of American and Modern Art/Mellon Director for Academic Programs. She took on the museum’s temporary leadership role in 2020 following the death of Thomas Sokolowski, an esteemed art curator and noted HIV/AIDS activist who led the museum since 2017.

I remain deeply grateful to Jay Tischfield, Robert Kopp and Donna Gustafson for their outstanding leadership as, respectively, Director of HGINJ, Director of EOAS, and Interim Director of the Zimmerli Museum. Please join me in thanking them for their dedication and hard work, which have greatly served the public good and strengthened our university.

Please join me as well in welcoming our new colleagues. I look forward to their contributions to our fulfillment of President Holloway’s hallmarks of the relentless pursuit of academic excellence; the establishment of institutional clarity; and the commitment to building a beloved community.

Sincerely,

Francine Conway, Ph.D.
Chancellor-Provost, Rutgers University–New Brunswick