September 26, 2000

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Peter V. O’Neil, Ph.D., provost at the University of Alabama at Birmingham since 1997, will step down from that post to return to the faculty, UAB President W. Ann Reynolds announced today. Arol Augsburger, O.D., Dean of UAB’s School of Optometry, has been appointed interim provost, effective October 15.

“Provost O’Neil has served with distinction in this position, guiding our academic and research programs toward ever higher achievement in a time of financial constraint,” Reynolds said. “UAB owes him a tremendous debt of gratitude, and while we respect his wishes to return to the scholarly duties that draw him, we will miss his leadership here.”

O’Neil, the author of many books and articles on advanced calculus, topology, linear algebra and advanced engineering mathematics, is writing a book on differential equations.

“A long time ago I set out to be a professor of mathematics and I’m looking forward to going back to do that,” he said

Before serving as interim provost in 1997 and being named to the permanent position in 1998, O’Neil had been dean of the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics since 1983. He joined the UAB faculty as professor and chairman of the Department of Mathematics in 1978.

The provost serves as the chief academic officer and coordinates related functions such as student services, research administration and institutional planning. During O’Neil’s tenure as provost, UAB’s research endeavor grew to a ranking of 26th nationally in federal funding with over $300 million; its academic programs grew, also, including the establishment of the state’s first African-American Studies major; and the university began the process of converting from a quarter to semester calendar.

Reynolds said a nationwide search will be launched for O’Neil’s successor.

Augsburger, new interim provost, has been Dean of Optometry since 1994. He previously served for over two decades on the optometry faculty at The Ohio State University and has over 100 publications and 200 invited presentations to his credit. He was elected president of the National Board of Examiners in Optometry in 1998 and was selected National Optometrist of the Year by the American Optometric Association.

UAB’s School of Optometry is first in the nation in percentage of students who pass national board exams, first in the nation in research funding ($27 million) for schools of optometry, and first in the nation in number of periodicals and papers published by its faculty.

“The high academic standards maintained in the School of Optometry, its active and extensive outreach programs and its ambitious research program all speak to the quality of its faculty and to Dean Augsburger’s leadership,” Reynolds said. “He will do a splendid job as interim provost.”

Augsburger said he was “honored to be asked to fill this important role in an interim capacity. I look forward to the challenge of continuing the advancement of our academic programs here at UAB.”