Anthony Frank Named Interim Provost at Colorado State University

Colorado State University President Larry Edward Penley today named well-respected academician and top administrator Anthony Frank as interim provost, the university’s highest academic post. Frank, currently the vice president for research and information technology, also will continue to serve as Colorado State’s senior vice president.

"Tony Frank’s outstanding reputation and long history with Colorado State University position him well to take on this new challenge," Penley said. "Tony is widely respected as both a scholar and administrator, and we believe he is the right person to take the university’s excellence in academics and research to the next level."

Henry Gardner Jr., associate vice president for research, will serve as interim vice president for research.

Prior to this announcement, Penley consulted with the Board of Governors of the Colorado State University System, university vice presidents, college deans and senior faculty. He received consistent advice that made Frank the obvious choice as the interim leader for academic affairs.

"I’ve been fortunate to observe and learn from excellent past provosts at Colorado State, and I owe them a debt of thanks," Frank said, citing the work of outgoing Provost Peter Nicholls and his predecessors, Al Dyer and Loren Crabtree. "It’s an honor to be asked to serve an institution with faculty and staff of such high quality. All of my experiences at Colorado State have reinforced in my mind the central and critical nature of academic affairs as the heart and soul of this university, and I look forward to serving as a strong advocate for academic affairs in this combined role."

Frank joined Colorado State in 1993 as an assistant professor of pathology and was promoted to head of that department in 1996. He was appointed associate dean for research for the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in 1998 before being named vice president for research and information technology in 2000. Penley named Frank senior vice president in June 2004.

As interim provost, Frank will provide academic vision and leadership to fulfill the land-grant mission of Colorado State. Specifically, the provost oversees academic programming and faculty affairs on campus. Among other duties, the office coordinates faculty and staff diversity initiatives, new faculty appointments, promotion and tenure processes, faculty evaluations including annual reviews and post-tenure reviews, student appeals and commencement.

As senior vice president, Frank also is responsible for Colorado State’s academic core and oversees student affairs, research and information technology and multidisciplinary research units such as the university’s public policy institute and Water Resources Research Institute. In addition, Frank helps manage the President’s Cabinet and oversees coordination of the university’s academic core with finance, fund-raising and development efforts.

As vice president for research and information technology, Frank oversaw the university’s $220 million annual research portfolio and was responsible for generating excellence in research programs and integrating research into the graduate and undergraduate learning experience. Frank also plays a leading role in the development, implementation and management of the university’s strategic planning process and the university’s planning and budget process.

Frank earned a bachelor’s degree in biology at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, in 1981. He earned his doctorate of veterinary medicine at the University of Illinois in 1985 and his doctorate in toxicologic pathology at Purdue University in 1988.

Gardner, who joined Colorado State in 2001 as associate vice president for research, will immediately begin his new post as interim vice president for research.

"Hank Gardner has an extensive background in biomedical sciences and managing large scale, complex and interdisciplinary research operations," Penley said. "He also brings excellent federal research and development experience that is invaluable to Colorado State’s research success."

Among other duties, Gardner is active with federal funding initiatives and developing private-sector research at the university. He leads Colorado State’s technology transfer activities, along with the university’s efforts in multidisciplinary research projects and economic development activities. Gardner also holds a professorship in the Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences with a joint appointment in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology.

Prior to joining Colorado State, Gardner directed special research programs at the AMC Cancer Research Center in Denver after more than 25 years with the U.S. Army, most recently as the scientific director of the U.S. Army Center for Environmental Health Research.

His Army career also included 11 years on active duty in the Medical Service Corps followed by 14 years with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. He previously served as director of the U.S. Army Biomedical Research and Development Laboratory and as research biologist and environmental science officer in the Army’s Health Effects Research Division.

Gardner’s academic credentials include a bachelor’s degree in environmental biology from the University of Montana in 1975, a master’s degree in environmental health from the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in 1983 and a doctoral degree of public health in environmental health from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in 1996.

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