New UMR chancellor brings experience

The University of Missouri-Rolla’s next chancellor will be John F. Carney III, University of Missouri System President Elson Floyd announced Thursday. Carney will assume the post Sept. 1 after the retirement of current chancellor Gary Thomas, who announced his plan to retire last year, a press release said.

Carney, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts until last fall, will head the 5,500-student campus and report to Floyd.

“I am delighted that Dr. Carney has agreed to take the helm of Missouri’s premier technological university,” Floyd said in a release from the UM system. “I look forward to working with Dr. Carney and believe his extensive research, teaching and administrative experience will serve the University of Missouri-Rolla well.”

Carney was chosen from three finalists that a committee of UMR faculty, staff, students and alumni had selected.

As chancellor, Carney will be responsible for overseeing all of UMR’s academic and administrative operations. Carney has 39 years of experience in higher education, the press release said, including as a professor and head of the civil engineering department at Auburn University in Alabama and associate dean for research and graduate affairs at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.

“It is an honor to be selected to serve as a chancellor of one of the nation’s best technological universities,” Carney said in a release. “I believe my background and experience in teaching, research and academic leadership will fit well with UMR’s mission and future direction.”

Carney will receive a base salary of $255,000 a year and the use of a vehicle and residence, the release said.

— Missourian staff