Provost Tom James announced Allegrante’s appointment on September 16. “No one is better suited than John Allegrante to working with us to catalyze and enable faculty engagement in the promising opportunities that have come into view as well as other prospects yet to come,” James said. “John … is well known to our academic community, so it goes without saying that he is a distinguished scholar, an insightful teacher and mentor, a leader of great stature in the fields of health and education, and a superb academic administrator.”

During the past academic year, President Susan Fuhrman and James convened a series of “domain dinners” in which faculty from various disciplines with related interests gathered to discuss and suggest themes around which they could work together more closely. Allegrante was actively involved, initiating one of the dinner discussions on health and education. James noted that Allegrante will play a central role “as we strive to implement faculty ideas driving the discussion in domain dinners and new initiatives at the College.”

“I am definitely excited and I’m grateful to both Tom James and Susan Fuhrman for offering me this opportunity to participate in moving the College forward,” Allegrante said. “With the kind of leadership that Susan and Tom have brought, it’s very much a different era here at the College. And the era is being shaped by the profound demographic changes taking place in the country, new opportunities being created by advances in technology, what we are learning from various areas of science, and what we are learning about the absolutely critical nature of the education process across the lifespan and its relationship to health status.

“I think the fact that they’ve asked me to do this recognizes the importance of health here at the College, which to me is a refreshing development.”

Allegrante, who joined the TC faculty in 1979 as an assistant professor of health education, said that the position will not be an administrative one, but one in which he will work with groups of faculty to facilitate the growth and development of various new initiatives, some of which will have an international dimension. He will transition to the new post over the course of the fall semester, and in January, Stephen Peverly, Professor of Psychology and Education, will become chair of the department on an interim basis.

Allegrante has published widely in health education and health promotion and in clinical epidemiology and health services research. A leading scholar in the field, he is past president of the Society for Public Health Education, and received the Distinguished Career Award in Public Health Education and Health Promotion from the American Public Health Association in 2003.

Published Friday, Sep. 18, 2009