Lawrence Tech Magazine Summer 2012 : Page 1

It’s all about ‘ students’ Moudgil’s appointment as the University’s seventh president, effective July 1, culminates a 10-month national search that attracted a large number of outstanding candidates and was aided by R. William Funk and Associates, a leading higher education executive search ﬁ rm based in Dallas. A 13-person selection committee led by Trustee Doug Ebert and representing faculty, students, alumni, staff, community leaders, and trustees narrowed the pool to three. Lawrence Tech’s full Board of Trustees made the ﬁ nal selection. Moudgil, most recently OU’s senior vice president and provost, led academic affairs there since 2001. From 1994– 2001, he chaired OU’s Department of Biological Sciences. He joined its faculty in 1976. “Dr. Moudgil has a strong record of leading exemplary aca-demic progress and program development,” said Lloyd Reuss, chairman of Lawrence Tech’s Board of Trustees. “He is an excellent communicator, and we anticipate that he will acceler-ate Lawrence Tech’s advancement and services to students and the professions across Michigan and the nation.” Meaningful impact Praise for Moudgil’s leadership and mentorship at OU has been as positive as it is effusive. (See www.oakland.edu/moudgil.) “One simply cannot overstate the meaningful impact Dr. Moudgil has had both as a professor and as our chief academic of ﬁ cer,” said Gary D. Russi, OU’s president. “We will face a great challenge in ﬁ nding someone as insightful, accomplished, and passionate to ﬁ ll his position.” He called Moudgil “one of the most in ﬂ uential and most respected faculty members and administrators” in Oakland’s history. OU Board of Trustees Chair Henry Baskin said that Moud-gil’s “legacy will live for generations to come. As the senior academic administrator, he was genius, historic, and extremely well respected by his colleagues. He deserves all the good for-tune and leadership, which will be his at Lawrence Technologi-cal University.” An OU news release included comments from Amelita Sanchez, a longtime research assistant and a doctoral candidate at Oakland, who called Moudgil “the type of teacher everyone should have.” “Lawrence Technological University has a heritage of excellence and a strong mission of developing leaders through innovative and agile programs,” Moudgil said. “I look forward to working with the entire Lawrence community, and to helping expand our base of new students, active alumni, involved do-nors, and industry partners. I am impressed with and passionate about the University’s mission and commitment to public good.” Moudgil grew up in India as it transitioned to independence from British rule. He has lived in the United States with his L A WRENCE Virinder K. Moudgil, Lawrence Tech’s new president, sees a focus on student achievement and success as the centerpiece of the University’s future and his work. T he photo that hung prominently above his chair in his former of ﬁ ce at Oakland University (OU) served as a constant reminder of what’s important to Virinder K. Moudgil. He’s pictured surrounded by all the students who worked in his research laboratory. “My passion is my lifelong involvement with students,” he said. “They are the driver for me to take on this responsibility at Lawrence Technological University. No matter what we do collectively or individually, the bene ﬁ ciaries ultimately should be our students. If they are served well, get the best education possible, get the best internships and real-world experiences, they are going to be successful alumni. It’s all about students. That is why we’re here.” T ECH M AGAZINE 1

‘It’s All About Students'

Virinder K. Moudgil, Lawrence Tech’s new president, sees a focus on student achievement and success as the centerpiece of the University’s future and his work. The photo that hung prominently above his chair in his former office at Oakland University (OU) served as a constant reminder of what’s important to Virinder K. Moudgil. He’s pictured surrounded by all the students who worked in his research laboratory. “My passion is my lifelong involvement with students,” he said. “They are the driver for me to take on this responsibility at Lawrence Technological University. No matter what we do collectively or individually, the beneficiaries ultimately should be our students. If they are served well, get the best education possible, get the best internships and real-world experiences, they are going to be successful alumni. It’s all about students.That is why we’re here.” Moudgil’s appointment as the University’s seventh president, effective July 1, culminates a 10-month national search that attracted a large number of outstanding candidates and was aided by R. William Funk and Associates, a leading higher education executive search firm based in Dallas. A 13-person selection committee led by Trustee Doug Ebert and representing faculty, students, alumni, staff, community leaders, and trustees narrowed the pool to three. Lawrence Tech’s full Board of Trustees made the final selection. Moudgil, most recently OU’s senior vice president and provost, led academic affairs there since 2001. From 1994– 2001, he chaired OU’s Department of Biological Sciences. He joined its faculty in 1976. “Dr. Moudgil has a strong record of leading exemplary academic progress and program development,” said Lloyd Reuss, chairman of Lawrence Tech’s Board of Trustees. “He is an excellent communicator, and we anticipate that he will accelerate Lawrence Tech’s advancement and services to students and the professions across Michigan and the nation.” Meaningful impact Praise for Moudgil’s leadership and mentorship at OU has been as positive as it is effusive. (See www.oakland.edu/moudgil.) “One simply cannot overstate the meaningful impact Dr. Moudgil has had both as a professor and as our chief academic officer,” said Gary D. Russi, OU’s president. “We will face a great challenge in finding someone as insightful, accomplished, and passionate to fill his position.” He called Moudgil “one of the most influential and most respected faculty members and administrators” in Oakland’s history. OU Board of Trustees Chair Henry Baskin said that Moudgil’s “legacy will live for generations to come. As the senior academic administrator, he was genius, historic, and extremely well respected by his colleagues. He deserves all the good fortune and leadership, which will be his at Lawrence Technological University.” An OU news release included comments from Amelita Sanchez, a longtime research assistant and a doctoral candidate at Oakland, who called Moudgil “the type of teacher everyone should have.” “Lawrence Technological University has a heritage of excellence and a strong mission of developing leaders through innovative and agile programs,” Moudgil said. “I look forward to working with the entire Lawrence community, and to helping expand our base of new students, active alumni, involved donors, and industry partners. I am impressed with and passionate about the University’s mission and commitment to public good.” Moudgil grew up in India as it transitioned to independence from British rule. He has lived in the United States with his wife, Parviz Gandhi Moudgil, for 39 years. Their two adult children, a son, Rishi, and daughter, Sapna,were born here and graduated from Rochester High School. He received his PhD in zoologybiochemistry from Banaras Hindu University, ranked the top university in India. His family included six brothers and four sisters. His mother oversaw their home and his father was an attorney active in India’s independence movement and engaged in improving community services. “My father was a follower of Prime Minister Nehru, a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings, and every day at home when I was growing up there were stories told about the freedom struggle, about self-esteem as citizens, and independence and self-reliance. My father was teaching that education was the only way that post-British India would be rid of poverty and backwardness, and that our ‘job’ as young people was to seek opportunities based on our education.” Wide-ranging interests Moudgil developed a wide range of interests, including music, theater, and British and Indian history. He learned to speak Punjabi, the language of his home state of Punjab; Urdu, then used in Indian courts; Hindi, India’s national language; and English. “My father was well read and we had newspapers and magazines in our home in all languages. One from the United States Embassy was Span magazine that gave me the first glimpse of life in America. We felt America was a paradise; you had these long 18-foot Chevys with fins, back yards, front yards, grocery stores, nobody’s cheating, everybody’s honest, everything you want, you work hard – all the beauty of America was delivered through that magazine.It built a desire to go to America.” It was his mother who influenced him to pursue a career in the life sciences. “At the time in India there was no professional theater or sports. I was captain of my high school cricket team and played college cricket, but my mother was correct in telling me that none of what I was doing was going to lead me to a profession.” In a general college biology class, Moudgil was able to repeatedly dissect an insect with great dexterity. “My professor could not believe it. He said, ‘You have the steadiest hands I have ever seen. You should be a surgeon.’” Moudgil’s subsequent plans for medical school were derailed by the India/Pakistan war and political changes in the country.Instead, he pursued biochemistry, worked many long hours in labs, and published papers in the Netherlands, England, and the U. S. about how estrogen, the so-called female hormone, affects the brain of lab animals. At age 28 and by that time married, he took advantage of a post-doctoral fellowship to go to the Mayo Clinic and join David Toft, the discoverer of a protein that mediates the action of estrogen. “I was very excited to be at a world stage of science discovery.I did not do anything of that magnitude, but being in such an environment shapes your thinking that if you have one life to live, you have to do something with it.” Greater opportunities for achievement and contributing to his field led him and Parviz, who holds a doctoral degree in physiology, to remain in the United States. “I am very grateful for the opportunities that this country has given us. Actually, I have lived here longer than I lived in India.Our children were born and raised here. This is our home, even though the value system that India gave me is still very strong.There is very high respect for age, seniors. And being raised in a family that was so focused on social good more than personal good instilled in me values that I still carry today.” Moudgil has also held an adjunct professorship at Wayne State University and has been a visiting scientist at universities in Serbia, France, and India. At Oakland, even as he advanced in administration, he remained an active researcher of the molecular mechanisms of steroid hormone action and the hormonal regulation of breast cancer, and received nearly $3 million in grant and research support awards from the National Institutes of Health and others. As OU provost, Moudgil oversaw six schools, the College of Arts and Sciences, the main library, and 16 administrative units, including technology services, international studies, the business incubators, e-learning, and grants, contracts, and sponsored research. He co-chaired the steering committee for the establishment of OU’s medical school partnership with Beaumont Health System and played a key role in its affiliation agreement with Cooley Law School. Moudgil chaired the Academic Officers Committee (Provost Council) of the Presidents Council of the State Universities of Michigan from 2007–11. He is an active lecturer and author and has participated in or chaired a number of regional, national, and international conferences in his area of study and on higher education topics. At LTU, he succeeds Lewis N. Walker, who has served in several leadership roles, including president since 2006, and as vice president of academic affairs and provost from 1994–2006. The trustees have appointed Walker to serve a one-year term as the University’s chancellor, during which time he will devote much of his attention to fund raising. Under Walker, Lawrence Tech has been aggressive in expanding programs in emerging economic sectors, such as robotics, defense, and sustainability, including “fast track” certificate programs to help professionals retool themselves for new careers. Walker worked to include leadership fundamentals in all undergraduate curricula through all four years, a rare distinction in higher education outside the service academies. More than $50 million has been spent at Lawrence Tech on facility and curricular improvements in the past decade, and nearly $70 million has been raised during the silent phase of a $100 million capital campaign to build an innovative Engineering, Architecture, and Life Sciences Complex, and increase scholarships and the endowment. Enhancing the LTU legacy “I’m thrilled by the opportunity to work with the faculty and staff here, outstanding teachers and instructors – embracing their passion to bring the very best to students in the classroom, studios, and laboratories,” said Moudgil. “This is a community in which I can work and further enhance the growth of LTU. ‘Further enhance’– I use the words carefully, because I know that with President Walker, Provost Vaz, and many others, this institution has made great strides. So what I bring here is simply a passion to advance that work, complement that work, and further enhance and enshrine this university’s great legacy. “LTU has a platform of community partnerships, wonderful donors and friends, a great campus, and good enthusiasm.I will endeavor to broaden the platform with faculty and staff, and see where we can work on additional areas of education and research. My goal is to advance their aspirations – tell me how you can be the best in what you do, and then, whether it is a grant, a research professorship, equipment, a sport, whatever it is, we’ll find ways to achieve it. “That will be my emphasis, to empower our faculty and staff, our colleagues, and at the same time build a community base on which to create a stronger institution that provides the best education possible for our students. We have a distance where we can grow. Lawrence Tech’s best is yet to come.” You’re invited to inaugural events The inauguration this fall of Virinder K. Moudgil as Lawrence Tech’s seventh president provides a grand opportunity to celebrate the University’s values, progress, and potential, and participate in commemorating LTU’s 80 years of educational service. Activities of special interest to students, alumni, faculty, staff, donors, and other friends are being planned for the week of Sept. 23–29. Visit www.ltu.edu/inauguration for details as they develop.

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