2009-10 Men's Basketball Media Guide - Missouri S&T Athletics

MISSOURI S&T ADMINISTRATION
Dr. John F. Carney III, Missouri S&T Chancellor
Dr. John F. Carney III, former provost and vice president for academic affairs at Worcester Polytechnic
Institute in Worcester, Mass., began his tenure as chancellor at Missouri S&T on Sept. 1, 2005.
A 40-year veteran of higher education, Carney served as WPI’s provost and vice president for academic
affairs from 1996 through 2004. In that capacity, he hired more than half of the current tenured and tenuretrack
faculty. He was involved with the creation of the Center for Educational Development,
Technology and Assessment, led the renovation of several WPI laboratories, bolstered the campus’s
Interdisciplinary and Global Studies Division, and made WPI, one of the nation’s oldest technological
universities, a more welcoming place for female faculty members.
A civil engineer by training, Carney earned a bachelor’s degree from Merrimack College in North
Andover, Mass., in 1963. He also earned master’s and Ph.D. degrees in civil engineering from Northwestern
University in Evanston, Ill., in 1964 and 1966, respectively.
Carney began his academic career at the University of Connecticut, where he served on the civil engineering faculty from 1966-
1981. He then joined Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., as professor and head of the civil engineering department, a position
he held until 1983, when he joined Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., as a professor of civil engineering. At Vanderbilt, he
served as associate dean for graduate affairs (1989) and then associate dean for research and graduate affairs (1993). He joined the
faculty and administration at WPI in 1996.
The field of impact mechanics has been Carney’s major research interest for more than 30 years. During this period, he was
awarded a series of grants and contracts with the National Science Foundation, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Federal
Highway Administration, British Rail, the Advanced Railway Research Centre, and the Departments of Transportation in the states
of Connecticut, Washington, Alabama, Georgia, Colorado, and Tennessee. This research activity resulted in the development and
implementation of a whole series of impact attenuation devices employed in motorway safety applications in the United States
and overseas. Carney holds nine patents in this area. In addition, his work with the railroad research community in Great Britain
has led to new concepts for improving the crashworthiness of trains.
Carney is the author of more than 140 technical publications in the area of structural mechanics and has been active on
numerous National Research Council committees. He is also a fellow of the American Society of Engineers.
Dr. Debra Robinson, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs
Dr. Debra A.G. Robinson is in her seventh year as the campus’s vice chancellor for student affairs. She took
over the position Jan. 1, 2003, after spending two years as S&T’s associate vice chancellor for student and
international affairs.
Robinson joined the S&T student affairs staff in 1980 as a counseling psychologist. She later was
assistant director and associate director of the S&T Counseling Center, and served as director of S&T’s Center
for Personal and Professional Development from 1990 through 2001. In 2001, she was appointed associate
vice chancellor for student and international affairs. She is responsible for directing S&T’s
leadership development programs, coordinating several administrative functions within the division,
coordinating staff development and training efforts, and managing relationships with external
constituents. She also serves as an adjunct faculty member in the engineering management department.
Robinson earned her bachelor of arts degree in psychology from the University of Illinois at Springfield in
1976 and her master of arts and doctorate degrees in counseling psychology from the University of Illinois at Champaign-
Urbana in 1977 and 1980, respectively. She is a member of the American Psychological Association, the International Coaching
Federation and the Society of Psychologists in Management. She also remains active as a management and coaching consultant,
and has written numerous papers and book chapters on a broad array of topics, including leadership development, engineering
education, career opportunities, women in engineering, and how students adapt to college life.
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MISSOURI S&T