New Leadership for Research at Rutgers–New Brunswick

December 2, 2024

Dear Rutgers–New Brunswick Community,

I am pleased to announce a transition that will enhance Rutgers–New Brunswick’s vibrant research culture, creating new opportunities for students and addressing the grand challenges facing our society.
 
At the start of January, Dr. Wendie Cohick will join my leadership team as Vice Provost for Research. In this role, she will advocate for strategic resources and collaborations that drive transformative, interdisciplinary research across Rutgers–New Brunswick. Vice Provost Cohick will build on the initiatives established by outgoing Senior Vice Provost for Research Denise Hien, who will remain in her current leadership role until May 2025.
 
Thanking Senior Vice Provost Hien
 
Dr. Hien’s contributions to our research landscape have been extraordinary. Since becoming Vice Provost for Research in 2021 and Senior Vice Provost in 2023—while continuing to serve as Director of the Rutgers Center of Alcohol and Substance Use Studies, a role she assumed 2017—Dr. Hien has led a transformative era for research at our institution. She established and expanded the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and convened Provost Strategic Task Forces focused on climate change, cyberinfrastructure and data science, life sciences, and behavioral health. These efforts led to key initiatives like the Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute (RCEI), the Rutgers Artificial Intelligence and Data Science (RAD) Collaboratory, and others still in development.
 
Dr. Hien, in partnership with former Vice Provost for Life Sciences Research and Partnerships Jean Baum, helped build scholarly communities of faculty, students, and external partners through events like speed networking, research forums, and leadership retreats. She has helped build scholarly communities that include faculty, students, and external partners; championed student research initiatives by collaborating with the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education; developed the Platforms for Education and Research Cores (PERC) initiative, which creates new student pathways; and mentored faculty research fellows. Additionally, Dr. Hien implemented the Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity in the Academy survey to address equity issues in our academic research environment.
 
Having achieved these milestones, Dr. Hien recently announced her decision to step down from her Senior Vice Provost position to focus full-time on her role as Helen E. Chaney Endowed Chair in Alcohol Studies at the Center of Alcohol and Substance Use Studies—although she has agreed to remain in the Senior Vice Provost role until May 2025. Please join me in thanking Dr. Hien for her outstanding dedication to Rutgers–New Brunswick research.
 
Welcoming Vice Provost Cohick
 
Vice Provost Cohick will have the benefit of serving full-time in her new leadership role. She will step down from her current positions as Dean of Research and Graduate Education in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS) and Director of Research for the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (NJAES), which she has held since July 2020, and as Interim Director of the Institute for Food, Nutrition, and Health (IFNH).
 
Dr. Cohick has led efforts to expand the SEBS and NJAES research portfolio, fostered interdisciplinary initiatives built on existing strengths, and led research development efforts. She worked with the Rutgers University Office for Research to secure grants and contracts and to expand patents and commercialization efforts. She has also been an active member of the Research Deans group led by the Office of the Vice Provost for Research—including as co-chair of the Life Sciences Alliance Provost Strategic Task Force, which recently issued recommendations for advancing research excellence and access. She also worked with graduate program directors and staff to enhance the quality and impact of graduate education and create successful graduate student experiences. A Professor of Animal Sciences, Dr. Cohick has been a faculty member at SEBS since 1996.
 
Please join me in welcoming Dr. Cohick to her new leadership role, thanking Dr. Hien for her extraordinary service, and wishing both of these leaders great successes in their future pursuits which will continue to benefit our institution, our scholars, the State of New Jersey, and the world.

Francine Conway, Ph.D.
Chancellor and Distinguished Professor
Rutgers University–New Brunswick