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Howard Joins NMSU August 1

  Dan Howard, a long-time New Mexico State University professor and current dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado Denver, has been appointed executive vice president and provost of NMSU.  Howard will join NMSU Aug. 1. His salary will be $285,000 per year.

"Dan Howard is an outstanding academic," said NMSU President Garrey Carruthers. "He is a premier scholar and the exact person I was looking for to help lead this university to an even higher level."

The executive vice president and provost is the chief academic officer at NMSU and serves as the university's chief executive in the president's absence.

"Jenifer and I are very happy to be returning to Las Cruces and New Mexico State University," Howard said. "I look forward to working with Garrey and my many friends and colleagues across the institution to advance New Mexico State University. Although this is a challenging time for public higher education, NMSU's strong tradition of excellence in teaching, research, and service will serve it well as we work together to position the university as the university of choice in New Mexico and beyond."

Prior to accepting the position as dean at the University of Colorado Denver in 2008, Howard spent 20 years at NMSU, first as an assistant professor of biology and eventually as regents professor of biology, head of the Department of Biology and interim associate dean for research in NMSU's College of Arts and Sciences.

Howard received his bachelor's degree from Stanford University where he studied biology and graduated with distinction and honors. He received his master's and Ph.D. in biology from Yale University. His research interests focus on species formation, hybrid zones and the evolution of postmating, prezygotic barriers to gene exchange. His research program was continuously supported by the National Science Foundation from 1990-2012 and he is the author, along with his students and colleagues, of more than 60 peer-reviewed publications.

He has been married to Dr. Jenifer Lichtenfels, a pediatrician, for 33 years. They have two daughters, Brittany, who is an otolaryngologist in her third year of residency at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Reid, who is a first-year medical student at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.