AUSTIN, Texas—Dr. Robert A. Peterson has been named an associate vice president for research in the Office of the Vice President for Research at The University of Texas at Austin.
Peterson joins the office from the IC2 Institute, where he has been deputy director and director of research. He holds the John T. Stuart III Centennial Chair in Business and has been chairman of the Department of Marketing and associate dean for research in the McCombs School of Business.
“Bob Peterson brings a wealth of experience in teaching, research and administration to his new role in the Office of the Vice President for Research,” said Dr. Juan Sanchez, vice president for research. “His perspective will be valuable as we move forward.”
Peterson has written or co-authored more than 150 books and journal articles, several of which won major awards, and has been editor-in-chief of two top-tier scientific journals. He has served on the boards or as an officer of numerous organizations and foundations and as an adviser to the United States Census Bureau.
He was recently named the 2006 American Marketing Association/McGraw-Hill Irwin Distinguished Marketing Educator. In May, he received the Berkman Award from the Academy of Marketing Science for outstanding service to the marketing discipline.
“I am excited about serving the university in a new capacity and increasing its research stature globally,” Peterson said.
At the IC2 Institute, Peterson was involved in setting up research and education agreements with governments in Canada, Mexico, Poland and Portugal and strengthening the organization’s ties to the local business community.
Peterson has been at The University of Texas at Austin since 1970. He received his doctor’s degree from the University of Minnesota.
He takes the post of Dr. Sharon Brown, who has returned to research as a professor in the School of Nursing.
Brown was associate vice president for research since 1999 and, with her strong interest in health-related issues, has fostered improvements in grant writing support for new investigators, accreditation of research programs and research compliance.
She was responsible for developing the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Initiative, a collaborative effort across campus to increase the number of research grants the university gets from the agency.
She was instrumental in forming the Health Research Network, an online database of University of Texas at Austin researchers doing health-related work. This initiative resulted in beginning discussions with UT System health components regarding research collaboration.
Brown is the James R. Dougherty Jr. Centennial Professor in the School of Nursing. She conducts extensive research into ways to promote healthier outcomes for Mexican-Americans with type 2 diabetes. She has just completed a five-year, $1.7 million NIH grant during which she developed and implemented education and support for Mexican-Americans with type 2 diabetes who live on the Texas-Mexico border.
