Mark G. McNamee, recently retired senior vice president and provost at Virginia Tech, has been conferred the title of “senior vice president and provost emeritus” by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.

The emeritus title may be conferred on retired professors, associate professors, and administrative officers who are specially recommended to the board by Virginia Tech President Timothy D. Sands. Nominated individuals who are approved by the board receive an emeritus certificate from the university.

A member of the Virginia Tech community since 2001, McNamee led many ambitious efforts to strengthen and advance the prominence and impact of Virginia Tech’s research, teaching, and outreach. He extended the university's efforts to expand research and educational opportunities in biomedical and health sciences, bioinformatics, information technology, and nanoscience.

Early in his tenure, McNamee guided the university as it reorganized its colleges and created the College of Science and the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. He also he played a key role in the development of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute, a model for a public-private partnership to advance medical education and expand Virginia Tech’s biomedical and health research.

As the principal investigator of the AdvanceVT National Science Foundation Institutional Transformation Award, McNamee promoted and enhanced the careers of women in academic science and engineering. University policies, programs, and services were changed which resulted in better support for faculty members' ability to balance career and home responsibilities.

McNamee played a critical role in promoting inclusive excellence at Virginia Tech. He championed the adoption on the Principles of Community in 2005, regularly presented at the annual Advancing Diversity at Virginia Tech conference, and served as a founding member of the President’s Inclusion and Diversity Executive Council.

A great supporter of the arts, McNamee shaped the vision and realization of the Moss Arts Center at Virginia Tech and taught seminars in the University Honors program.

With grace and compassion, he provided leadership in the university and community’s recovery efforts in the aftermath of tragic events in 2007. He served as principal investigator on more than $5 million in grants secured to develop and provide programs and services to assist families and university and community members.

McNamee served as a member of the board of directors of the Science Museum of Western Virginia, chair of the Arts Policy Board of the Virginia Tech Center for the Arts, a member of the Collaborative on Academic Career in Higher Education National Advisory Council, a member of the Northeastern University NSF Advance External Board, and a member of the Governance Committee of the National Institute of Aerospace.

McNamee received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1968 and his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Stanford University in 1973. After a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, McNamee joined the faculty at the University of California at Davis as an assistant professor of biochemistry in 1975.

Promoted to associate professor in 1980 and full professor in 1985, McNamee became chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics in 1990. Following a two-year appointment as interim dean, McNamee became dean of the Division of Biological Sciences in 1995, a post he held until his arrival at Virginia Tech in 2001.

McNamee is a member of the Society of Neuroscience, Biophysical Society, American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, American Chemical Society, and Sigma Xi.

Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.

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