Day Hall’s newest face is Charles R. Fay, who took over on Tuesday as vice provost for research administration.
Formerly an administrator at the Center for the Environment, Fay has worked at Cornell for the past 17 years, displaying “strong leadership, a lot of competence, efficiency and a careful understanding of the University,” according to Robert C. Richardson, vice provost for research.
“When we started the search process last fall, we targeted on people with Cornell experience, because that is so important for our research programs,” Richardson said, adding that Fay distinguished himself early as someone who was “widely admired among his peers.”
Richardson helped lead the six-person search committee, which officially announced Fay’s appointment last week.
Fay, who holds a B.S. (1974) in business finance from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, will use his past research experience to oversea a variety of programs.
Working as a senior administrator in the research office, he will also serve as co-chair of the University Health and Safety Board, as an ex-officio member of the Radiation Safety Committee and as a member of the University Library Board. In addition, he will be responsible for Cornell’s animal care program, overseeing the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and the Center for Research Animal Resources.
“I’m looking forward to the challenges ahead,” Fay said. “It’s an honor to hold a position that is at the very heart of a great research institution.”
Fay replaces Jack Lowe ’56, the former executive vice provost for research who worked in the administration for 38 years before announcing his retirement at the beginning of the year.
Lowe was born in New York City and graduated from Cornell with a B.S. in animal science and agricultural economics.
Throughout his career, Lowe worked in the administration of five of Cornell’s ten presidents, from Deane Malott to Hunter Rawlings. Since he came to campus in 1963, Cornell’s research expenditures have jumped from $26.8 million to $283 million in 2000.
Lowe emphasized the many changes that he has seen in the University over the years. “The biggest change is the physical facilities. There are lots of building that weren’t here 38 years ago, and there is a larger student body,” he said.
Above all, Lowe is looking forward to his retirement, although he says that he will greatly miss “the people and associations” at Cornell.
Considering what he would do first upon leaving Cornell, he said, “I’m hardly going to dye my hair purple and hang out on the Commons.”
–Cornell News Service contributed to this story.
Archived article by Jennifer Roberts