University of Nebraska President L. Dennis Smith, Ph.D., has named Jay Noren, M.D., executive vice president and provost effective on or about July 1.
Noren (pronounced Nor-een), 57, has been director of the Health Workforce Project for the National Institute of Health Policy in Minneapolis since January 2001. He is a professor in the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, and a professor of family and community medicine in the College of Medicine in the Texas A&M University System.
He had previously been president of the Health Sciences Center and vice chancellor for health affairs for the Texas A&M System, vice chancellor for health sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and chancellor of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. His Nebraska appointment is subject to approval by the Board of Regents.
“We are very pleased that Jay Noren will join the senior leadership team of the University of Nebraska,” Dr. Smith said. “He has demonstrated distinguished leadership across a broad spectrum of roles in the health sciences, at land-grant institutions, and at state universities. He has intimate knowledge of the research enterprise nationally, and he clearly recognizes the enormous potential of our university for the future of Nebraska and its citizens.”
Dr. Noren said he is enthusiastic about taking on his new duties. “This opportunity is exciting for many reasons because of the individual strengths of the University of Nebraska campuses and because the relationships among the campuses are obviously very collaborative and that bodes well for the future,” he said.
“All of the campuses seem to have strong upward trend-lines in pursuing their respective missions. That includes the intensified emphasis on and increasing success in research at UNL and the Medical Center, the power of the metropolitan focus at UNO, and the pursuit of a premiere undergraduate experience at UNK.”
Dr. Noren earned two bachelor’s degrees and his M.D. from the University of Minnesota, and his Master of Public Health degree from Harvard University.
The executive vice president and provost is the second highest-ranking administrator of the University of Nebraska, after the president. The post carries broad responsibilities for both academic and budgetary aspects of university operations. Noren’s salary will be $200,000. He will succeed Lee B. Jones, who retires at the end of this academic year.