Professor Cramer named CSE associate dean

Professor Christopher Cramer has been appointed as the College of Science & Engineering’s new associate dean for academic affairs, effective July 1, 2013. Professor Wayne Gladfelter, who has served as associate dean since 2007, is returning full time to his faculty position.

As associate dean, Cramer will be responsible for overseeing graduate education within the college; administering processes for faculty promotion and tenure, faculty sabbatical and semester leaves, phased retirements, and faculty honors and awards; and coordinating the program for women graduate students and faculty.

Cramer joined the University of Minnesota faculty in 1992 and was promoted to full professor in 2000. He served three years each as director of graduate studies and director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Chemistry. At the college level, he has served on several committees including the Promotion and Tenure Committee, Curriculum Committee, and the Strategic Planning Committee.

Cramer also is known for his service at the University level. He currently serves on the university’s Faculty Consultative Committee, and was chair during 2011-2012. He serves as the faculty liaison for e-learning initiatives to the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost and is one of five University professors developing and delivering free online courses through the university’s partnership with Coursera. In addition, he currently serves on the Research and Scholarship Advisory Panel, Public Engagement Council and Academy of Distinguished Teachers Executive Committee. In the past, he also led the faculty governance component of the University of Minnesota Gender-Related Faculty Salary Analysis Working Group.

His primary research interest areas include physical chemistry, chemical physics, computational chemistry and environmental chemistry. Last fall, Cramer secured a major U.S. Department of Energy grant to lead the new Center for the Study of Charge Transfer and Charge Transport in Photoactivated Systems.

Cramer has received numerous awards and honors including the college's Taylor Award of Distinguished Service, University of Minnesota Distinguished McKnight Professor, Morse-Alumni Undergraduate Teaching Award, American Chemical Society Fellow, Chemistry’s Elmore H. Northey Chair, and the University of Minnesota Inventor Recognition Award.

He has consulted with several industrial partners including Medtronic, Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Alcon Research Laboratories, and ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company.

Cramer received his undergraduate degrees in mathematics and chemistry from the Washington University in St. Louis, and his doctorate in chemistry from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.