Sources: Brian Spooner, 785-532-6900, spoon1@k-state.edu;
and Dave Rintoul, 785-532-6615, drintoul@k-state.edu
Photo available. Contact media@k-state.edu or 785-532-6415.
News release prepared by: Stephanie Jacques, 785-532-0101, sjacques@k-state.edu
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
DAVID RINTOUL NAMED INTERIM DIRECTOR OF K-STATE'S DIVISION OF BIOLOGY
MANHATTAN -- The Division of Biology at Kansas State University has new leadership. David Rintoul has been selected interim director and has begun a one-year term in the post.
Rintoul replaces Brian Spooner, who is serving as interim dean of K-State's College of Arts and Sciences.
Leaning on a combination of skills, experience and a commitment to the Division of Biology, Rintoul hopes to do more than watch over the unit during his term as director.
"It will be critical, during this interim year, to maintain the position of the division as one of the major contributors to scholarship, teaching and service at K-State," Rintoul said. "Therefore, I don't view this as a caretaker assignment. I would like to maintain the momentum we've got, build momentum if we can, and make sure that when the financial climate changes, we are ready to hit the ground running."
Although the division will face many challenges in the next year, such as budget cuts and a hiring freeze, Rintoul said he will depend on the strengths of the unit to provide stability during these hard economic times.
"One of the strengths of the unit is our hard working faculty who have had great success generating grants; however, that strength is a double-edged sword and thus limits the funding we receive from the university," he said. "We need to be on the lookout for opportunities and take advantage of all of those places where there will still be the ability to positively affect the resources of the institution; the key to that is communication."
Rintoul joined K-State in 1981 and earned tenure as an associate professor in 1987. In more than 20 years of research, he has covered a broad area of disciplines, including cell biology, biophysics, stable isotopes as markers of avian migration and philopatry.
He has served the past seven years as associate director of the Division of Biology, assigning instructing positions, monitoring the teaching budget and graduate teaching assistant funding streams, budgeting for temporary instructors, and coordinating the division's interdisciplinary introductory course, Principles of Biology. In this same period he has been recognized with the 2006 H. Henley Haymaker Teaching Excellence Award and the 2007 Commerce Bank Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award.
"Dr. Rintoul has enjoyed broad support from all segments of the division, and will do a superb job in the interim director capacity," Spooner said.
