Biography
Dr. John Frederick
A native of San Antonio, John Frederick earned his A.B. (1980) from Princeton and his A.M. (1982) and Ph.D. (1985) from Harvard, all in Chemistry. Following a three-year postdoctoral research appointment at the University of Washington in Seattle, Dr. Frederick joined the faculty of the University of Nevada, Reno as an Assistant Professor of Theoretical Chemistry in 1988. He was tenured in 1993 and promoted to full professor in 1998, becoming chair of the chemistry department in 1999.
Dr. Frederick's research interests have been in the area of computational molecular dynamics, with a special emphasis on the study of molecular vibrations and structural rearrangements induced by the absorption of light. His work has appeared in some 50 articles in the chemical physics literature and has been funded by more than 15 external grants totaling over $2.7 million. He has also received recognition for his teaching, receiving the Alan Bible Teaching Excellence Award from the College of Arts and Science in 1995, and the F. Donald Tibbits Distinguished Teacher Award from the University in 1996. From 1997 to 2004, he served first as Treasurer, then as President of the Telluride Science Research Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating scientific workshops in all areas of molecular science.
Dr. Frederick served as Executive Vice-President and Provost of the University of Nevada, Reno from July 2001 through June 2007. In June 2007, he accepted a position as Senior Fellow with NASULGC, the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges. As a Senior Fellow at NASULGC, Frederick helped the association enlist the involvement of chief academic officers, scientific professional societies, and education policy makers across the country to help launch a new national initiative—the Science and Mathematics Teacher Imperative. This initiative is designed to increase the number of first-rate middle school and high school science and mathematics teachers prepared by NASULGC members and other higher education institutions.
In February, 2008, Dr. Frederick accepted the position as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at The University of Texas at San Antonio. As Provost, he is responsible for the academic mission of the University, including oversight of all its colleges, Undergraduate Studies, Graduate School, Honors College, Faculty Support, Academic Accountability, Institutional Research and many student and community related initiatives.
The Provost is charged with ensuring the quality of academic programs offered; supervising the institutions’ strategic and master planning processes; supporting the recruitment of high-quality faculty; and, facilitating the growth and enhancement of the university. A high priority of this office is to guide the university towards its goal of being a premier research institution.