Murray Gray will oversee U of A research centres and institutes in his role as vice provost (academic)

Murray Gray, who joined the Department of Chemical Engineering in 1983 as an Assistant Professor, has been appointed Vice-Provost (Academic) for the University of Alberta.

Gray will be the liaison to the Office of the Vice President (Research), will hold responsibility for a variety of international councils and faculty rewards and recognition.

“I’ll be looking at trying to increase the quality and numbers of centres and institutes on campus,” says Gray, “and at what the university can do to build the profile of the institution to bring in additional people and money.”

Gray has plenty of experience with on-campus centres and institutes, having been the driving force behind the launches of two centres based in the Faculty of Engineering (the Centre for Oil Sands Innovation in 2005 and the Alberta Centre for Surface Engineering and Science in 2002), and having initial involvement in the Helmholtz-Alberta Initiative.

Another task Gray will undertake in his new role is international partnerships. “The university has looked around the world and come up with a list of countries we’re trying to develop and emphasize strategic partnerships with,” Gray explains. “So for example, Germany is one, and the Helmholtz Institute is an example of the kind of activity that comes out of a focus on a particular country.”

Gray admits that he has a steep learning curve ahead but already has some goals outlined: “The major two are firstly, to assess what – if any – the opportunities and potential partnerships are in Brazil, (which is a natural opportunity given the strength in energy studies there) and secondly, to take a close look at the opportunities to either significantly expand or redirect existing centres or institutes to benefit the university, or start completely new ones.”

Since taking on this new role, Gray has had to make some shifts in his current responsibilities. As such, he will not return to teaching for the duration of his appointment; however, since his position is in a half-time capacity, he will remain Director for the Centre for Oil Sands Innovation, and will continue to be active in research.

Gray, currently on sabbatical, officially begins his new responsibilities on January 1, 2012, postponing the second half of his leave to return to the university.