M. R. C. Greenwood

File:US Navy 110412-N-WP746-117 Dr. M. R. C. Greenwood speaks to Navy leadership at the Learn from the Leaders speaking event sponsored by the Workforce.jpg

Dr. M.R.C. Greenwood speaks to Navy leadership

Mary Rita Cooke Greenwood (born April 11, 1943) is a nationally recognized leader in higher education, nutrition, and health sciences. Additionally, her research has been extensively published, internationally recognized, and has earned awards.

She is best known for her position as the Associate Director for Science in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (confirmed by the US Senate) during the Clinton Administration. She also served as President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1999. In addition, she has been President of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO)—now the Obesity Society; and also President of the American Society of Clinical Nutrition.

Formerly an Adjunct Professor of Public Health and Nutrition at the University of California, Berkeley, she currently holds an appointment as a Distinguished Professor Emerita of Nutrition and Internal Medicine at the University of California, Davis.

She held various positions in the University of California (UC) system: as Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, UC Office of the President; Chancellor of UC Santa Cruz; and Dean of Graduate Studies and Vice Provost at UC Davis. During her time at UC as chancellor, she oversaw the opening of the UC system’s first new residential college in 30 years. Her tenure oversaw the hiring of 250 new faculty members and academic programs were expanded by 52 percent.

In 2005, the University of California found that Dr. Greenwood had violated its conflict of interest rules related to a management position created for a colleague with whom she co-owned a rental property. The university found no evidence of improper conduct in a second allegation that she influenced a position held by her son at UC Merced, concluding no pattern of impropriety or ethics violations in regard to both matters that were thoroughly investigated. The university accepted Dr. Greenwood’s resignation from the position and affirmed her return to the tenured professorship she formerly held at the University of California, Davis.

Greenwood became the President of the University of Hawaiʻi in 2009 and was the first woman to hold the position. During her tenure, she oversaw several major projects including the UH Cancer Center, the new UH West Oahu campus, the UH Hilo Hawaiian Language and Culture building, the Windward Community College Learning Center, the Maui Community College Science and Technology Center, the Kaua‘i Community College Campus Center project, the UH Mānoa Campus Center and a new Information Technology Building. On May 6, 2013, Greenwood announced her retirement from the University of Hawaiʻi as President.

She is a member of the Institute of Medicine in the National Academy of Sciences, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Education

Greenwood earned the A.B. degree in Biology, Summa cum laude, from Vassar College in 1968. She received her Ph.D. in Physiology, Developmental Biology, and Neurosciences from Rockefeller University in 1973, and she completed a postdoctoral study in Human Nutrition at Columbia University in 1974.

Awards/Fellowships

• New York State Regents Fellowship for Graduate Study,1968
• Matheson Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1973-74
• NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship,1974
• Mellon Scholar-in-Residence, St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.,1978
• NIH Research Career Development Award,1978-83
• American Institute of Nutrition (AIN) Award in Experimental Nutrition (BioServ Award),1982
• Endowed Chair - John Guy Vassar Chair for Natural Sciences,1986-89
• Doctor of Humane Letters, Mount Saint Mary College, Newburgh, NY, 1989
• Associate Director for Science, OSTP, The Executive Office of the US President, 1993-1995
• Award of Support of Science Council of Scientific Society Presidents,1994
• American Psychological Association, Presidential Citation, 1995
• Woman of the Year, Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce, 1998
• Chairman, Board of Directors, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1999-2000
• Woman of Achievement (Education), The Women's Fund, San Jose, 2001
• Distinguished Fellow (Science and Technology), California State University, Monterey Bay, 2001
• William D Carey Lecturer, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2002
• The UC Santa Cruz Foundation Medal, 2004
• Member, California Council on Science and Technology, 2004
• American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow, 2005
• American Association for the Advancement of Science, Past President and Fellow, 1998-1999 & 2005
• American Society of Nutrition Fellow, 2009
• Member, Board of Governors, East-West Center, 2009- 13
• UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Award of Distinction, 2010
• Member, APEC 2011 Hawai‘i Host Committee, 2010-2011
• Honorary Doctorate Degree, University of the Ryukyus, 2011
• Woman of Distinction, Girl Scouts of Hawaii, 2011
• Wu Memorial Lecture, Columbia University Institute of Human Nutrition, 2012
• Chair, Council of Presidents, Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, 2012
• Chair, Hawaii State Childhood Obesity Prevention Task Force, 2012

Publications

• Greenwood, M.R.C. & Karen Kovacs North (1999). Science Through the Looking Glass: Winning the Battles But Losing the War? Science Magazine, Vol. 286, pg. 2072-2078 http://science.sciencemag.org/content/286/5447/2072
• Greenwood, M.R.C. & Gerardi Riordan, Donna (2002). Research Universities in the New Security Environment. Issues in Science and Technology, pg. 35-39 http://issues.org/18-4/p_greenwood/
• Greenwood, M.R.C. (2003). Risky Business: Research Universities in the Post-September 11 Era. Science and Technology in a Vulnerable World, Supplement to AAAS Science and Technology Policy Yearbook. http://www.aaas.org/sites/default/files/migrate/uploads/stvwch1.pdf
• Greenwood, M.R.C. & Gerardi Riordan, Donna. (2001) Civic Scientist/Civic Duty. Science Communication, Vol 23, No. 1, pp. 28–40. http://scx.sagepub.com/content/23/1/28.abstract
• Greenwood, M.R.C.,Kovacs North, Karen, and Dollenmayer, Judith. (1999). Whose Millennium? The University as a Medium of Culture. American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 42, No. 6.http://abs.sagepub.com/content/42/6/1041.abstract

External links

• University of California official faculty synopsis
• Greenwood cited in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
• Greenwood lauded at Vassar
• Greenwood profiled on Forbes
• Greenwood featured in Condé Nast Portfolio
• UH regents select Greenwood as new school president
• MRC Greenwood and "A Powerful Coterie of larcenous. . . ." (UH's next system President?)
• Executive compensation at UC: MRC Greenwood and the $871 million dollar secret
• Greenwood announces retirement