Marie Lynn Miranda named provost of Rice University

3/18/15 4:22pm

Marie Lynn Miranda, Samuel A. Graham Dean of the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan, will replace George McLendon as the Howard R. Hughes Provost on July 1. McLendon is stepping down after five years as provost to concentrate on teaching and research, according to an email sent to the Rice University community by President David Leebron.

“We were struck by the quality and breadth of her scholarly accomplishments, her insights and sensitivity to collaboration as an academic leader, her clear capacity to develop and execute on a vision and her warm engagement with everyone she met,” Leebron wrote in a March 11 email. “[Miranda] is a respected scholar, researcher, teacher and administrator who has made great contributions wherever she has served.”

Miranda has gathered over $43 million in sponsored reach as a principal or co-principal investigator, and an additional $14 million as investigator. She said she is eager for interdisciplinary research and academics at Rice.

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“Even in the information age, with the ensuing democratization of knowledge, colleges and universities hold the greatest potential for helping students bridge the chasm between knowledge and wisdom, especially so in the residential college setting,” Miranda said to Rice News.

Miranda, a Truman Scholar and National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow, holds a master’s degree and a doctorate, both in economics, from Harvard University.

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