University names new leader

USF has named Steve Currall, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Southern Methodist University, its next president.

Currall replaces USF System President Judy Genshaft, who plans to retire in July after leading the institution for 19 years. The school, through a 15-member presidential search committee, chose Currall after a week of public interviews at all three USF campuses, in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee. Currall’s appointment now awaits final approval from the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state university system. That’s expected to happen at a March 28 meeting in Tallahassee, according to a statement.

Currall, according to his biography on the SMU website, has a bachelor’s degree from Baylor University, a master’s from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Cornell University. As provost, he oversaw all aspects of academic activity at SMU, including seven academic units. He was also a member of the boards of BioHouston; Leadership in Medicine Inc.; Nanotechnology Foundation of Texas; and Interferometrics Inc., a venture-funded medical device startup.

Other past academic posts in Currall’s career include:

• Vice chair of the board and member of the executive committee for the 10-campus University of California system's Global Health Institute;

• Dean of the Graduate School of Management at UC Davis;

• Founding chair of the Department of Management Science and Innovation in the Faculty of Engineering Sciences at University College London;

• Professor at Rice University, where he held the William and Stephanie Sick Professorship of Entrepreneurship in the George R. Brown School of Engineering; and

• Founder of the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship.