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To the College Community:
As previously announced, Professor John Meier assumed the role of provost as of July 1. We are fortunate to have a colleague with John’s experience and judgment serving in this key position.
John is beginning his 28th year at Lafayette College. During that time, he has established himself as an exceptional teacher, scholar, and administrator. Among the awards he has received, John is appropriately proud to have received the James Crawford Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Mathematical Association of America. At Lafayette John has received the Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Award, the Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Lecture Award, the Student Government Superior Teaching Award, and the Mary Louise Van Artsdalen Prize for Outstanding Research.
In 2017, John was named the David M. `70 and Linda Roth Professor of Mathematics. An expert in geometric group theory, John has received research funding from the National Science Foundation and the American Mathematical Society and has held visiting positions at Binghamton, Columbia, Cornell, Ohio State, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of California at Santa Barbara. In addition to authoring or co-authoring over 50 articles, John is the co-author (with colleague Derek Smith) of Engaging Mathematics (2017, Cambridge), the author of Groups, Graphs and Trees (2008, Cambridge), and co-author of Writing in the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics (1998, MAA). As a faculty member, John has served on a wide range of elected faculty committees, including as chair of the Promotion, Tenure, and Review Committee. As an administrator, John has held a number of roles, including full-time positions as associate provost and dean from 2010 to 2015, and during the 2018-19 academic year, when he served as dean of academic initiatives before taking on the responsibilities of dean of the faculty.
I am delighted to welcome John into this new role. I hope that you will join me in thanking him for this important service to the College.
President Alison Byerly