Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Purdue University Fort Wayne, 2014-present

Principal responsibilities relate to faculty and programmatic development.

With respect to faculty development, Kingsbury works with faculty individually to:

  • Member of Leadership Academy Planning Team – campus-wide internal leadership development program
  • Member of Campus Orientation and Mentoring Program Team – campus-wide development program for new faculty and chairs
  • Otherwise work on faculty development by:

– meeting informally to help them launch well and succeed at promotion and tenure

– serve as a resource for faculty development in the College by interviewing all candidates for open faculty positions during the selection process

– providing feedback on drafts of tenure and promotion cases, summer grants, and similar documents

  • Encourage social connections to build community
  • Meet with faculty who have individual work-related concerns

Other substantial activities include:

  • Evaluating enrollment and other program viability metrics
  • Guiding programmatic review, helping chairs and faculty through that process
  • Drafting reappointment reviews for annual contract faculty
  • Working with Faculty Affairs Committee to:

– review every promotion and tenure document in College

– facilitate development of workload policy guidelines for College

  • Working with Curriculum Committee to review proposed degree changes
  • Overseeing changes to the Arts and Sciences section of the Bulletin

He also works with the dean to:

  • Cultivate a diverse and valuable Community Advisory Board, doubling board size presently and recently approving bylaws
  • Promote interdisciplinary and community collaborations
  • Create a positive environment in the College
  • Develop marketing and advertising efforts as part of a Communication Plan

Director, Environmental Resources Center, Purdue University Fort Wayne, 2000-present

The mission of the Environmental Resources Center (ERC) is “to promote the understanding and conservation of the natural resources of the region through scientific research, educational opportunities and outreach.” The ERC was established in 2012 as an expansion of the Center for Reptile and Amphibian Conservation and Management, which he founded in 2000.  As ERC Director, Kingsbury supervises a variety of research and technical services projects and with my students provide numerous presentations and activities for the general public relating to wildlife and the environment. He endeavors to promote faculty and student opportunities at IPFW, engage the community on conservation issues, and promote the IPFW brand.

Recent ERC activities and projects beyond basic research include:

  • Expanding the physical space of the ERC to accommodate like-minded tenants and additional projects in a repurposed building next to the St. Joseph River.
  • Exploring the feasibility of an environmental stewardship center as part of a revitalization of downtown Fort Wayne.
  • Inaugural Conservation Conversation: an annual event bringing stakeholders, speakers, demonstrations and displays together for a regional sustainability conversation.
  • Water Quality Information Service (wqis.pfw.edu): provides a portal to a water quality database for the region, allowing remote data entry and data extraction by researchers and the general public.
  • Indiana Herp Atlas (inherpatlas.org): an online resource promoting citizen science and learning about reptiles and amphibians.

Chair, Department of Biology, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, 2003-2010

The Department of Biology at IPFW is large and complex. There were 18 teaching faculty during my tenure, and five clerical and administrative staff positions. The high research productivity of the faculty relies on a substantial infrastructure which includes numerous research and education laboratories as well as off-site facilities. Undergraduate enrollment is about 500 distributed across several majors and concentrations, and there is also a robust MS graduate program.

Highlights from his tenure as Biology chair: helped guide Biology through a period of growth (50% increase in majors) that far exceeded that of the university to become the largest department in the College of Arts and Sciences.

  • Expanded the MS graduate program and improved its support, including doubling available assistantships.
  • Enhanced efficiency and acquiring additional resources to bring the department back within budget.
  • Laid the foundation for establishing the current Concentration approach to degree.
  • Added faculty, research space and infrastructural improvements.
  • Worked with faculty to develop a full set of departmental policies, including those relating to promotion and tenure, merit increments and research release.