Holloway named Provost and VP at the University of New Mexico
From outstanding undergraduate education contributions to leadership positions, Holloway served the college for nearly 30 years.
By Kate McAlpine
James Holloway, Vice Provost for Global Engagement and Interdisciplinary Academic Affairs at U-M and a professor of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences, is on his way to become Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of New Mexico, effective July 1, 2019.
“I am truly grateful for all the U-M has given me. I cannot express how much I have loved my time here,” said Holloway. “My Michigan colleagues have been friends, teachers and mentors. I’ve appreciated the chance to build success here, and grown from the mistakes I’ve made. I hope now to share some of what the U-M has taught me with another great institution. And yet the University of Michigan will forever be in my heart.”
In his recent work, as a vice provost since 2013, Holloway has focused on ways in which U-M engages the world through both scholarship and education, facilitating the creation of interdisciplinary activities that span from sustainability scholarship to engaged research in poverty alleviation.
“As vice provost, James Holloway has provided remarkable service to the University of Michigan,” said Martin A. Philbert, U-M Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. “His wide ranging interests, organizational skill, and ability to imagine new approaches to our work has made him a most effective leader.
“Under his direction, we’ve had a vision for and developed a strong infrastructure to support global education. We have deepened teaching and research connections with universities around the world, sent impressive numbers of students to study in other countries, and developed outstanding health and safety support for students, faculty, and staff when they travel internationally. I am deeply appreciative for the many ways James has contributed to the University of Michigan and wish him great success as he joins the University of New Mexico.”
Holloway has served in a variety of leadership roles since joining the faculty at U-M as an assistant professor for Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences in January 1990. Additional roles have included the William Davidson Institute Board (2014 – present), Vice Provost for Global and Engaged Education (2013 – 2016), Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, College of Engineering, (2007 – 2013), and Interim Director, Wilson Student Team Project Center, College of Engineering, (2011).
“Dr. Holloway is an inspired choice for UNM Provost, and we are thrilled to welcome him and his family to Albuquerque and to the Lobo community,” said Garnett S. Stokes, University of New Mexico President. “He is a proven collaborative leader in higher education and a strategic thinker who will be instrumental in advancing The University of New Mexico’s mission and ensuring the Lobo experience supports and enriches our students’ lives.”
In 2007, Holloway was named an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in recognition of outstanding contributions to undergraduate education. Later that year, he became associate dean for undergraduate education for the College of Engineering. Given the responsibility to blend the hemispheres of creativity and analysis within the engineering undergraduate experience, he dedicated himself to introducing students not only to the theory of engineering, but also to its practice, and to the world at-large.
Holloway’s research in the nuclear engineering field has focused on computational and mathematical modeling of neutral particle transport, plasma kinetics and hydrodynamics, and related problems in inverse problems and plasma tomography. Along with his students, he developed the first Riemann solvers for time dependent neutral particle transport, which included the first successful solutions of low-order nonlinear maximum entropy closures for transport equations.
“The University of Michigan has been my academic home for nearly 30 years,” said Holloway. “I came here as an assistant professor, starting on January 1, 1990 laser focused on the corner that was my research and teaching. But little by little I discovered what a treasure the University of Michigan is. The excellence across breadth that U-M supports provides a rich intellectual environment, and catalyzed by the deep public ethos of the institution we create an irresistible force for social change and improvement. In this environment I learned with academic excellence looks like, and what a public university should be.”
He served as co-PI on the University of Michigan’s CRASH center, and led the center’s uncertainty quantification program. He has served as reviewer for many journals and programs, and served as Editor of the journal Transport Theory and Statistical Physics.
Holloway has also undertaken research in engineering education, including the study of student identity and gender in the engineering classroom. Holloway’s teaching has spanned from large first year classes to specialized graduate level courses. He has taught a course for education students on engineering in the high school classroom, and also taught a class on Engineering Across Cultures, not only in Ann Arbor but in Kumasi, Ghana, and Chiang Mai, Thailand.