We are pleased to welcome Christine A. Hrycyna, Ph.D., as the next dean of the School of Physical Sciences, effective Sept. 18, 2023. Hrycyna is the current Department Head of Chemistry in the College of Science at Purdue University, and a 150th Anniversary Professor, an award recognizing the 10 professors at Purdue who have shown the highest levels of achievement in teaching and learning. She has served as Department Head since 2017, and worked at Purdue since 2000.
A biochemist, Hrycyna’s research focuses on the biochemical basis of aging disorders and cancer and the development of new treatments for brain, pancreatic and lung cancers. Her work has been supported by both federal and society research grants, and she was named a Purdue University Faculty Scholar in 2017. She has authored more than 90 articles and book chapters and currently serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry. She has also served as a standing member of the peer review committee on cancer drug development of the American Cancer Society, and as a reviewer for the Ford Foundation and various NIH Special Study Sections.
During her time at Purdue, Hrycyna also served as Associate Department Head, Head of the Biochemistry Division in the Department of Chemistry, Head of the Interdisciplinary Life Science Graduate Program (PULSe), and a representative on the University Senate and the University Educational Policy Committee.
She earned her bachelor’s in chemistry from Middlebury College and her Ph.D. in biochemistry from UCLA. Following her time at UCLA, Hrycyna was a Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research Postdoctoral Fellow at the NIH in the National Cancer Institute with Dr. Michael Gottesman.
As the next School of Physical Sciences dean, Hrycyna, under the direction of Executive Vice Chancellor Simmons, will be responsible for providing all academic, intellectual and administrative leadership and promoting inclusive excellence in all aspects of the school’s research, teaching and public engagement missions.
We sincerely thank Dean Cheryl Anderson for providing exceptional leadership as the chair of the search committee, and for ensuring that a diversity of voices was involved in the search process. We are grateful to the members of the committee for their many hours of service and for their contributions and insights.
We also extend our sincere appreciation to Steven E. Boggs for his service as dean since 2017 and look forward to hearing about his successes in his research, particularly in his role as the deputy principal investigator of NASA’s COSI mission.
Please join us in congratulating incoming Dean Hrycyna on her appointment. Her commitment to research, as well as furthering academic and teaching excellence will serve the School of Physical Sciences, and our university, well.
