Office of the President, Lee C. Bollinger

Announcement Regarding G. Michael Purdy of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

January 19, 2011

Dear fellow members of the Columbia community:

It gives me great pleasure to announce the appointment of G. Michael Purdy as the University's Executive Vice President for Research, effective February 1, 2011.  A Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, for the past decade Mike has served as Director of Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.  There he helped build a world renowned interdisciplinary research institution with the capacity to apply its scientific expertise to the complex problems facing a global society.  He possesses not only the respected scholarly and administrative experience required in this position, but also a deep familiarity with Columbia's academic culture, and our ambitious goals for scientific research in the years ahead.  Mike succeeds Dr. David Hirsh, who served as Columbia's Executive Vice President for Research since the post was created in 2003 and created a strong foundation for this office.  We are grateful for the many contributions David has made, and will continue to make, to Columbia.

Please join me in wishing Mike Purdy every success as the new Executive Vice President for Research.

Sincerely,

Lee C. Bollinger