4:23 p.m., Nov. 19, 2010----Conrado (Bobby) Gempesaw, dean of the University of Delaware's Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, has accepted a position as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

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Gempesaw will assume his position at Miami on May 1, 2011.

“We will miss Bobby's leadership here at the University of Delaware,” said University President Patrick Harker. “He is a great administrator and Miami's gain is our loss.”

“Bobby has a long tenure of successful leadership in various positions here at UD,” added University Provost Tom Apple. “I believe his extensive experience and collegial leadership style will be a tremendous asset to the Miami University community.”

“I am deeply honored and humbled to be given the opportunity to serve as the next provost of Miami University,” Gempesaw said. “I am fortunate to have been selected from a pool of highly qualified and distinguished candidates. Miami is an excellent university with a commitment to providing undergraduate students a strong foundation in the liberal arts. I look forward with much enthusiasm to collaborating with the faculty and administration, students, staff, alumni and friends of this outstanding university.

“UD has provided a very supportive environment for me to grow professionally. As a member of a Blue Hen family -- my wife and two sons completed their degrees from UD -- Delaware will always be a special place for us.”

Miami University has an enrollment of 14,770 undergraduate and 2,395 graduate students at its Oxford campus with another 6,000 students at its regional campuses. Miami has 1,514 faculty members. As provost, Gempesaw will serve as chief academic officer and will be responsible for enhancing the University's intellectual climate, strengthening instruction and scholarship, fostering curricular innovation, recruiting and mentoring faculty and promoting campus diversity.

A member of the UD faculty since 1985, Gempesaw served as interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 2004-2005 and vice provost for academic and international programs from 1999-2006. He served as chairperson of the Department of Food and Resource Economics in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources from 1993 to 1999, and in 1995, he was given a joint appointment as professor in the Department of Economics.

In 2006, Gempesaw was appointed dean of the Lerner College of Business and Economics, home to five academic departments and five centers, 120 faculty and 3,500 students. During Gempesaw's tenure, the Lerner College witnessed unprecedented growth in undergraduate and graduate student demand and selectivity. During his term, the Lerner College also hired 28 new faculty members, 17 of whom were women or members of the protected class.

Prior to that, Gempesaw served as vice provost and was responsible for the Division of Professional and Continuing Studies. He led the division to an unprecedented seven years of record revenues and met all University-stipulated financial benchmarks each year. He was also instrumental in the founding of the Center for International Studies in 2001, which led to the University's recognition as a top study abroad institution in the nation.

A professor of economics, Gempesaw has research and publishing interests in financial simulation analysis and modeling, higher education administration, agribusiness economics, marketing and international trade. Formerly editor of Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, he was awarded the outstanding alumni award from Penn State University's College of Agricultural Sciences in 2008.

Gempesaw earned his bachelor's degree in economics from Ateneo de Davao University in the Philippines. He earned a master's degree from West Virginia University and a doctorate from Pennsylvania State University, both in agricultural economics.