Robert G. Frank was selected as the 21st President of The University of New Mexico on January 4, 2012, and took office on June 1. The University of New Mexico is the state’s largest institution of higher education and its flagship serving over 36,000 students across five campuses. UNM is home to the UNM Health Sciences Center, consisting of the School of Medicine and Colleges of Nursing and Pharmacy, as well as twelve schools and colleges. UNM is ranked in the top 100 research universities in the United States and Canada.
Robert G. Frank previously served as Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Kent State University since July 2007. Kent State is one of the nation’s larger university systems with eight campuses that provide more than 280 academic programs to more than 41,000 undergraduate and graduates students from throughout Ohio and the nation, and from 100 countries. In 2010 and 2011, Times Higher Education named Kent State University as one of the top 200 universities in the world. During his tenure at Kent State, the university established a College of Public Health, increased enrollment and retention, and revised promotion and tenure rules.
Dr. Frank is the former dean of the College of Public Health and Health Professions at the University of Florida, where he also served as a professor in the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology. During his tenure at Florida, the College established the Public Health program and reorganized as what is now recognized as a CEPH-accredited College of Public Health. In 2010, Dr. Frank was recognized through Jackie and Dan Devine’s endowment of the Robert G. Frank Professorship for the Dean of the College of Public Health and Health Professions at the University of Florida.
Dr. Frank’s first appointment was at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, where he established the Division of Clinical Health Psychology and Neuropsychology. He was a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow in 1991-92 and worked with Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico). After completing the fellowship, Dr. Frank returned to the University of Missouri where, as assistant to the dean for health policy, he continued to work on federal and state health policy. Dr. Frank continued to work with Senator Bingaman and managed Missouri’s state health reform effort, the ShowMe Health Reform Initiative. In 2011, Dr. Frank was appointed by the United States Department of Defense to the Defense Health Board, a federal advisory committee to the Secretary of Defense.
Dr. Frank holds a doctorate in clinical psychology from The University of New Mexico. He is a Diplomate in Clinical Psychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology. He is past president of the Division of Rehabilitation Psychology of the American Psychological Association and a Fellow in Rehabilitation Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Health Psychology. He formerly chaired the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council, the Legislative Committee of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, and American Psychological Association’s Committee on Professional Continuing Education (1997) and its Board of Educational Affairs (2000). Dr. Frank’s scholarship focuses on two areas: psychological adjustment to catastrophic injury and health policy.
