Provost Patricia E. Beeson announced the appointments of three new vice provosts this month.

• Mark S. Redfern, the William Kepler Whiteford Professor and associate dean for research in the Swanson School of Engineering, will become vice provost for research effective Sept. 1.

He replaces George E. Klinzing, vice provost for Research since 1995, who is returning to the Swanson School of Engineering faculty.

• Carey D. Balaban, professor of otolaryngology in the School of Medicine and director of the Centers for National Preparedness and for Biology of Vibration and Shock Injury, will become the new vice provost for faculty affairs, effective Sept. 1.

• Laurie J. Kirsch, professor of business administration and senior associate dean for professional programs in the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, will become the University’s new vice provost for faculty development, effective September 2013.

Balaban’s and Kirsch’s positions will be part time. They will replace the full-time position held by Andrew Blair, who served for 13 years as vice provost for faculty affairs. Blair, professor of business administration and economics, plans to return to the faculty.

Mark Redfern

Redfern earned his undergraduate degree in engineering science and his master’s and doctoral degrees in bioengineering from the University of Michigan.

As associate dean in the Swanson school, he has helped to support the school’s research effort during a period of rapid expansion in funded research.  He has worked with the Office of Research, the Office of Technology Management and the Provost’s office on research-related issues.

He joined the Pitt faculty in 1988 as an assistant professor in the Department of Otolaryngology in the School of Medicine, with a secondary appointment in industrial engineering. In 2000, his primary appointment was moved to the newly created Department of Bioengineering, where for more than a decade he was vice chair for undergraduate education.

In addition to otolaryngology, Redfern holds secondary appointments in physical medicine and rehabilitation, physical therapy and rehabilitation science.

Redfern has secured research funding from a variety of sources, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, industry and foundations.

Much of his research has focused on deepening the understanding of posture control, locomotion and measurement systems, particularly as they apply to preventing fall-related injuries in older adults and movement control in individuals with balance disorders, and on using biomechanical analysis of jobs to limit and prevent musculoskeletal injury on the job.

Carey Balaban

Balaban, who holds secondary appointments in neurobiology, communication science and disorders, and bioengineering, earned his BA in history at Michigan State University in 1975 and his PhD in anatomy in 1979 from the University of Chicago.

He joined the Pitt faculty in 1988 after completing post-doctoral training at the University of Tokyo and serving as an assistant professor of medicine at Penn State. In 1993, he was promoted to associate professor at Pitt and, in 2000, he was named a full professor.

Balaban has been active in the University Senate. He is chair of the Senate’s tenure and academic freedom committee, a committee he has served on since 1993.  In 2009, he received the Award for Service in the University Senate.

He also serves or has served on the University’s entrepreneurial oversight and conflict of interest committees, the provost’s ad hoc committee on academic freedom, and the School of Medicine’s committee for tenured faculty promotions and appointments.

He has secured research funding from a variety of sources, including NIH, NASA, the Office of Naval Research, and several other agencies and corporations. He has extensive experience in conducting multidisciplinary research in the biomedical sciences, engineering and social sciences and has participated in the emerging fields of augmented cognition and neuroergonomics.

Laurie Kirsch

Kirsch earned her BS in computer and information sciences at Ohio State and her MA in business administration at the University of Iowa.

She joined the Pitt faculty as an assistant professor in 1993 after completing her PhD in business administration at the University of Minnesota. She was promoted to associate professor in 1999 and full professor in 2006.

As senior associate dean, Kirsch is responsible for the master’s and executive programs and assists the dean in faculty matters such as hiring, promotion and tenure processes.

Kirsch has won both teaching and research awards within the Katz school.

She was named a Magid Igbaria Distinguished Scholar at Claremont Graduate University and appointed a Visiting Erskine Fellow at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.

Her research focuses on the use and development of information systems with a particular focus on control strategies and the systems development process, the transfer of knowledge in the information systems context, and the examination of how stakeholders can better manage information systems initiatives and improve software processes.