Vice Provost of Graduate Education and Director of the Graduate School
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April 6, 2026: Open Forum: 4:00 pm: Alumni Lounge, Strand Stuent Union Dr. Angela Lueking
Angela Lueking is a research and academic leader whose career has centered on the integration of graduate education and high-impact research. She currently leads Headframes Innovation Network, where she founded and developed PITCH, an AI-enabled platform focused on early-career research development and mentoring. This work builds on more than two decades in academia advancing graduate education, faculty development, and interdisciplinary research growth. Dr. Lueking previously served as Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of the Graduate School at Montana Technological University, where she led a comprehensive reinvigoration of graduate education. She expanded 4+1 pathways, strengthened mentoring structures, secured a $6.5 million Department of Defense workforce development award supporting new graduate education pathways, and elevated national visibility of graduate programs. Her leadership emphasized professional advancement, structured mentoring, and integration of research and graduate training into institutional strategy. Earlier, as Associate Dean for Research at Missouri University of Science and Technology, she launched faculty mentoring systems that contributed to record NSF CAREER awards and strengthened national competitiveness. She also served as a Program Director at the National Science Foundation, gaining a national perspective on doctoral education, funding ecosystems, and the research pipeline. Dr. Lueking began her faculty career at Penn State, where she secured multi-million-dollar external funding to support graduate research and interdisciplinary collaboration. A product of the land-grant mission, she brings a deep commitment to student access, research excellence, and the transformative role of graduate education in economic and societal impact. Across roles, Dr. Lueking has focused on aligning research growth with graduate student success—advancing recruitment, mentoring, completion, and professional preparation. Her leadership integrates data-informed strategy, faculty engagement, and systems design to strengthen graduate education within the broader mission of public research universities. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ April 7, 2026 Dr. Robert Peterson
Dr. Robert K. D. Peterson is professor of entomology and department head in the Department of Land Resources & Environmental Sciences at Montana State University (MSU). Bob has been at MSU since 2002 and department head since 2022. As a professor, he leads the research and teaching program in Agricultural and Biological Risk Assessment. More specifically, the program is centered on comparative risk assessment. Additional areas of research emphasis include insect ecology, plant-stress ecophysiology, and integrated pest management. He has published 149 peer-reviewed journal articles, 15 book chapters, and two books. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses, including environmental risk assessment, insect ecology, principles of living systems, knowledge and community, and various special-topics graduate courses. He also launched and directed the Professional MS program in environmental sciences at MSU. A native of Perry, Iowa, he received his BS in entomology from Iowa State University in 1987 and his MS and PhD in entomology from the University of Nebraska in 1991 and 1995. From 1995 to 2001, he was a scientist with Dow AgroSciences. In 2019, Bob served as president of the Entomological Society of America and was elected in 2023 as Honorary Member and in 2025 as Fellow.
April 8, 2026Dr. Bruce Fouke
Bruce W. Fouke holds the Ralph E. Grim Endowed Professorship in the Department of Earth Science & Environmental Change and is a faculty member in the Cancer Center at Illinois and the School of Integrated Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He also serves as Director of the Illinois Roy J. Carver Biotechnology Center. His research interests concentrate on geological, biological and medical (GeoBioMed) studies of Life-Mineral-Water interactions in modern and ancient coral reefs (Curaçao, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, European Alps), hot springs (Yellowstone, Italy, Turkey), Earth’s deep subsurface (Illinois, Alaska, Scotland), Roman aqueducts (Italy), meteor impacts (Mexico) and the human body (Mayo Clinic, UCLA Health, Northwestern Medicine). Leadership Profile |
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Dear MSU Community, I am pleased to announce the launch of a national search for next visionary leader of graduate education and the Graduate School at MSU. We have formed a search committee with individuals whose backgrounds and collaborative approaches will help us identify the most qualified candidates. Dean Adams, dean of the College of Arts and Architecture, will chair the search committee. Julie Heard in the Office of Academic Affairs will provide administrative support. The committee members, in alphabetical order, are:
Finalists for the position will be invited for campus interviews and public forums during the spring semester, and I anticipate our new leader of graduate education will start July 1, 2026. Throughout the search process, the committee chair will provide updates with more specific timelines and milestones. The search for our next leader of graduate education is an important endeavor for the future of our university. I encourage you to share your thoughts and ideas for this position with members of the search committee so that they may incorporate your suggestions into the process. Please join me in thanking these individuals for their willingness to serve in this important undertaking. Sincerely, Dr. Robert L. Mokwa | Executive Vice President and Provost Montana State University Tel. 406-994-4371 |
