Mark McLellan, a 30-year veteran of university research leadership, has been chosen as the new vice president of research at Portland State University. He will begin work at PSU on Monday, Aug. 6.
McLellan the vice president for research and dean of the School of Graduate Studies at Utah State University, Utah’s land-grant and space-grant research institution. During his seven years there, he helped build a major research expansion and a record level of research funding, including a new infusion of state funding for support of graduate students and graduate education.
“Portland State conducted a national search for this extremely important position. I am delighted that we found someone of Dr. McLellan’s caliber to help lead PSU’s growth as a major research institution,” said PSU President Rahmat Shoureshi. “With his extensive scholarship activities at major Research One universities, and his proven leadership in developing Centers of Excellence, I am confident that Mark will enable us to actualize our vision for PSU becoming a global urban research university.”
During his career, McLellan was a tenured professor and department chair at Cornell University; director of a multi-college research center at Texas A&M University; and dean for research at the University of Florida, where he helped to more than double research funding.
“PSU is poised to grow significantly in the world of knowledge exploration and discovery,” McLellan said. “I hope I can contribute by supporting the growth of leading-edge research programs, by helping forge an undergraduate experience that includes hands-on learning, and finally, in the spirit of delivering the knowledge leaders of tomorrow, I want to help grow PSU’s graduate training programs.”
McLellan, who will join PSU as a full tenured professor of biology, earned his Ph.D. in food science from Michigan State University. He chairs the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s Science Advisory Board, which deals with complex issues such as the nation’s opioid epidemic. He also was selected in 2016 as the inaugural chair of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Science Advisory Council.
McLellan said he and his wife, Julie, are looking forward to joining the PSU family.
“We love the vibrancy of this innovative campus and the city environment, and are thrilled to have this opportunity to be a part of the PSU and Portland communities,” he said.