Following a national search, Kenneth Paap, an administrator and psychology professor who has facilitated and overseen the acquisition of about $35 million in external funding at New Mexico State University this fiscal year, has been named associate vice president for research and sponsored programs.

Paap, a resident of Las Cruces, N.M., begins his new job Aug. 1. He is leaving his position as associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and director of the Arts and Sciences Research Center at New Mexico State, which he has held since 2001. Recent grants he has helped secure include a $3.7-million ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award from the National Science Foundation and $5 million award from the Army Research Laboratory.

"Dr. Paap is an accomplished scholar, teacher, fund-raiser and administrator," said John Gemello, SFSU provost and vice president for academic affairs. "His skills, experience and character are ideal for leading the further progression of sponsored programs that support curriculum development, community service learning and research at San Francisco State."

At SFSU, Paap will be charged with facilitating, broadening and expanding faculty research activities in support of the University's mission to provide students with an outstanding educational experience.

SFSU has nearly quadrupled its budget for research and sponsored programs during the past 10 years, attracting nearly $50 million in outside funding in 2002-03. The University has received major research grants from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Education and others.

"SFSU clearly has been successful recently in increasing external funding and I hope to build on that upward trajectory," Paap said. "I plan to help faculty obtain funding in areas where it is often difficult by locating new funding sources and putting together successful proposals. I am eager to support interdisciplinary programs that can lead to major grant proposals."

Paap, 57, replaces Paul Fonteyn, who is now provost and vice chancellor of academic affairs at University of Massachusetts, Boston. Bruce Macher, professor of chemistry, served in the position on an interim basis for about two years before Paap was hired.

In 1975, Paap joined New Mexico State as an assistant visiting professor and the following year was hired on a tenure track in the Psychology Department. He served as department chair from 1995 to 2001 and has been the principal investigator for the University’s Computing Research Lab since 1985. A fellow of the American Psychological Association, Paap focuses his areas of research interest on the relationships between culture and cognition, human-computer interface design and the psychology of reading.

Paap grew up in Milwaukee and earned his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in psychology from University of Wisconsin, Madison.

-- Matt Itelson