Aelion tapped to head School of Public Health

The University of Massachusetts has named Alumna C. Marjorie Aelion the new dean of the School of Public Health and Health Education. As the administration hailed her previous experience and dedication, she said she feels that she is "coming home." The announcement was made by Charlena Seymour, UMass provost and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs. "We're looking forward to her arrival and the energy and commitment she will bring to this important school," Seymour said. "She is a talented and highly-skilled individual who will help us move this University into the top ranks of the nation's public research schools," UMass Chancellor Robert C. Holub said. Aelion received a Fulbright Advanced Student Award to study in France as a senior undergraduate honors student at UMass. Since 2006, Aelion served as associate dean for research at the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina. Aelion's expertise and research is in the area of environmental contamination. It is because of this concentration, she has also received the National Science Foundation Presidential Faculty Fellow Award in 1993 and currently has a National Institutes of Health R01 research award at the University of South Carolina to study metals in soils and their potential links to children's health outcomes. Aelion served as graduate director for the University of South Carolina's environmental health sciences department from 2003-2006. In 2002, she was a Fulbright Faculty Scholar as well as a visiting professor at the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands. She has been a professor of environmental health sciences at South Carolina since 2001 and an associate professor from 1997-2001 and an assistant professor from 1991-97. The new dean will begin her duties January 1, 2009, and is looking forward to returning to UMass. "The School of Public Health Sciences has great potential, and I am honored to be chosen to work with the faculty, staff and students to realize that potential," said Aelion. "I look forward to becoming an integral part of the UMass community," she added. Aelion earned her bachelor's degree in environmental sciences from UMass in 1980, a master's degree in civil engineering from M.I.T. and a doctorate in environmental chemistry and biology from North Carolina. Adam P. Coulter can be reached at apcoulte@student.umass.edu.

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