A mathematics professor at the University of Mississippi will join Austin Peay State University as the new provost and vice president of academic and student affairs, effective in January 2009.
Dr. Tristan Mark Joseph Denley, head faculty fellow of the Residential College at Ole Miss and associate professor, will succeed Dr. Bruce Speck, who resigned in early 2008 to become president of Missouri Southern State University, Joplin. Dr. David Denton, dean of the College of Professional Programs and Social Sciences, had been serving as APSU’s interim provost.
One of two candidates recommended by a campus search committee, which recently conducted a series of on-campus interviews, Denley will begin his new role at the start of the Spring 2009 term in January.
Most recently, Denley served as chair of the math department at Ole Miss, one of the largest departments on the campus, overseeing a $1.5 million budget and directing 15 tenure-track faculty. When he began his term as chair, he led the department through a transformation of its graduate program, increasing the number of doctoral graduates.
Denley joined the mathematics department at Ole Miss in 1997 as assistant professor. He was a visiting scholar from January 1996-May 1996 and received postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Umea, Sweden, and the University of Waterloo, Canada.
At Ole Miss, Denley maintains an active schedule of university service and educational activities. Currently, he is course coordinator of the freshman seminar program for the honors college, a member of the advisory board of the Center for Math and Science Education, chair of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning College Readiness in Math Task Force and a member of various committees and task forces.
Denley earned a Ph.D. in mathematics in 1993 from the University of Cambridge, England, where he also received a certificate of advanced studies in mathematics. His bachelor’s degree in pure and applied mathematics is from the University of Exeter, England.
