2017 Distinguished Alumni Award

2017-03-31

Henry C. “Hank” Foley (M.S., 1979) will receive the College of Science Distinguished Alumni Award in spring 2017.

In June, he will become President of the New York Institute of Technology.

Dr. Foley was named interim chancellor of the University of Missouri on November 10, 2015. He most recently served as the MU senior vice chancellor for research and graduate studies and the UM System executive vice president for academic affairs, research and economic development.

Since his appointment with the UM System in July 2013, Foley has worked with a variety of campus leaders, including the campus chancellors, provosts and chief research and economic development officers. He has led the system’s strategic planning efforts, provided system-wide leadership in academic programs, promoted economic development and advanced research collaborations and enhanced funding. He also has led institutional research, student access and success, academic program review and eLearning functions of the system.

As interim chancellor, Dr. Foley oversees a $2.1 billion enterprise; he represents MU at the prestigious Association of American Universities, the Association of Public Land-Grant Universities and directs MU’s research mission, which is classified as a “Research University/Very High” by the Carnegie Institute. The interim chancellor is responsible for the quality and effectiveness of all programs and for dedicating University resources necessary to ensure that all research, education and service are conducted in accordance with all applicable federal, state and local regulations and accreditation requirements. His role includes the creation and/or maintenance of the ongoing campus strategic plan that ensures MU is Missouri’s premier national and international destination university. Foley is a tenured professor of chemistry at MU and a professor of chemical and biochemical engineering at the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

Foley is a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Industrial and Engineering Division of the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the National Academy of Inventors. He is also member of the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C., and of several honorary societies, including Sigma Xi, Phi Lambda Upsilon and Sigma Pi Sigma.

For his scholarly work he has been recognized with the New York Metropolitan Catalysis Society’s Excellence in Catalysis Award, the Philadelphia Catalysis Club’s Annual Award, the Leo C. Friend Award from the I&EC Division of the American Chemical Society, the Research Innovation Recognition Award from Union Carbide Corporation, the Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation, the Thiele Lecture in Chemical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, the Distinguished Departmental Lecture in Chemical Engineering at the University of Utah and the Henry E. Bent Lecture in Chemical Engineering at the University of Missouri.

He has authored more than 150 refereed archival journal articles, proceedings and book chapters. He is an inventor with 16 patents and is the author of the textbook Introduction to Chemical Engineering Analysis Using Mathematica, published in 2003. Graduate and undergraduate students he has mentored have prospered in industry and in academia.