The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences announced the appointment and reappointment of multiple department chairs March 21, 2023.
Heimir Geirsson, professor of philosophy, was reappointed to serve as chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies. Geirsson has served in the role since 2013, and his research focus areas are philosophy of language and mind; epistemology; and metaphysics.
Frank Krennrich, professor of physics and astronomy, was reappointed to serve as chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Krennrich has been chair of the department since 2013, and his research focuses on high energy gamma ray astrophysics and astroparticle physics.
Kristie Franz, Smith Family Foundation Departmental Chair in Geology and professor of geology and atmospheric sciences, was reappointed to serve as chair of the Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences. Franz was appointed chair in 2020, after serving as interim chair the previous year. Her research interests include hydrologic modeling and surface water hydrology.
Hridesh Rajan, Kingland Professor of Data Analytics and professor of computer science, was reappointed as chair of the Department of Computer Science. Rajan was appointed chair in 2020 after serving as interim chair for several months. His research focus areas are data science, software engineering, and programming languages.
All four reappointments will become effective July 1, 2023.
Tom Holme, Morrill Professor in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and professor of chemistry, was appointed interim chair of the Department of Chemistry, effective March 20, 2023. Holme joined Iowa State as faculty in 2008, and received his Ph.D. in chemistry from Rice University. In addition to chemistry, Holme has exceptional expertise in the measurement and assessment of student learning.