Executive Dean David C. Manderscheid is pleased to announce the appointment of Stephen Petrill, professor of psychology, as the new associate dean for research and Tina Henkin, professor of microbiology and the Robert W. and Estelle S. Bingham Professor of Biological Sciences, as the new associate dean for faculty affairs.

As associate dean for research, Petrill will work closely with the college administration and faculty to promote the strategic planning, development, administration, success and effectiveness of disciplinary and interdisciplinary scholarship and sponsored research, both internally and with external funding sources as well as with industry.

Petrill is an expert on the study of genetic and environmental contributions to the development of cognitive skills related to reading, mathematics, language and attention. He directs of one of four Learning Disabilities Innovation Hubs (LD Hubs) in the United States. Funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the LD Hubs addresses the causes, symptoms and treatments of learning disabilities that impact reading, writing and mathematics by focusing on understudied-research topics and projects that study those diagnosed with, and at-risk for, learning disabilities.

Petrill is a Fulbright Scholar who has more than 150 publications. He has been continuously federally-funded since 1999 and is currently a member of the National Advisory Child Health and Human Development (NACHHD) Council at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development. He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Notre Dame and an MA and PhD in psychology from Case Western Reserve University. He completed postdoctoral studies in behavioral genetics at the Social, Genetic, and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, London (UK).

Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs
As associate dean for faculty affairs, Henkin will work with the vice dean and divisional deans to coordinate faculty recruitment, promotion and tenure policies and processes, along with faculty resources and development across the college. These responsibilities will specifically include promotion of faculty mentoring and recognition through internal and national/international awards as well as serving as a resource and conduit for college department chairs and school directors. 

Henkin, microbiology professor and the Robert W. and Estelle S. Bingham Professor of Biological Sciences, has received extensive honors and recognition for studies of ribonucleic acid molecules (RNAs) that uncovered new molecular mechanisms for gene regulation in bacteria and identified novel targets for antibiotic treatment of bacterial infections.

Henkin was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 2012, joining only 11 Ohio State NAS members (seven in ASC). She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Academy of Microbiology, and received Ohio State’s Distinguished Scholar Award in 2004 and the National Academies of Science Pfizer Prize in Molecular Biology in 2006.

Henkin received a BA in biology from Swarthmore College; a PhD in genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and completed postdoctoral studies in molecular biology and microbiology at Tufts University Medical School. She joined Ohio State’s Department of Microbiology in 1995 and served as department chair from 2009-2013. She is author of more than 100 papers in major, peer-reviewed journals and holds two patents. She also coauthored a major bacterial genetics textbook. Her research has been continuously funded since 1987 by NIH, along with additional funding from NSF and the American Cancer Society. 

Henkin’s and Petrill’s appointments will commence Jan. 1, 2016 and continue through June 30, 2019.