Four faculty members appointed to leadership roles

Rosa da Silva, Bruce Newbold, Janok Bhattacharya and Bartek Protas are moving into key leadership roles in the Faculty of Science beginning July 1st.

Rosa (top left), an Associate Professor and Associate Chair (Undergraduate) in the Department of Biology, will serve as the new Associate Dean, Undergraduate Studies for a five-year term. Rosa joined McMaster in 2012, with a teaching stream appointment in 2019. Rosa was promoted to Associate Professor in 2021. Rosa’s excellence in teaching and pedagogical innovation has been widely recognized with both McMaster and external honours, most recently with a 2023 President’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teaching and Learning.

Bruce (top right), a Professor and Director of the School of Earth, Environment & Society, will serve as the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies. Bruce will serve a five-year term. A McMaster graduate, Bruce returned to his alma mater as an Associate Professor in 2000 and was promoted to Professor in 2006. Bruce served as Director of the McMaster Institute of Environment & Health from 2004 to 2013 and has served two terms as Director of SEES and is currently the Chair of the President’s Advisory Committee on Natural Lands. A long-time champion of graduate students and education, Bruce has built an exemplary graduate research program with many Master’s and doctoral graduate students taking on leadership roles in academia, government and the private sector.

With Bruce’s appointment as Associate Dean, Graduate Studies, Janok (bottom right) will serve as the new Director for the School of Earth, Environment & Society. Janok, a Professor in the School and the inaugural holder of the Susan Cunningham Research Chair in Geology, will serve a three-year term. Janok, who earned his Ph.D. in Geology from McMaster in 1989, rejoined the University in 2014. Janok has served multiple terms as Associate Director (Graduate Studies) and Acting Director of the School of Geography and Earth Sciences in 2017-18.

Bartek (bottom left), a Professor in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics will serve as Department Chair for a four-year term. Bartek, a well-respected researcher, instructor and colleague, has been Acting Chair for the past year. Bartek has previously served as the Departmental Associate Chair (Graduate) and Director of the School of Computational Science & Engineering from 2009 to 2019. Bartek joined McMaster in 2003 as an Assistant Professor, became an Associate Professor in 2009 and was appointed a Professor in 2015.

Thanks to Bhagwati Gupta for his outstanding leadership, first as Acting Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in 2016 and then as Associate Dean of Graduate Studies since 2018. Thanks also to Steven Bray for serving as Acting Associate Dean Academic for the past year and Giuseppe Melacini who served as Acting Chair in the Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology for the past year.