Emory’s Presidential Search Committee has named James W. Wagner the successor to University President William M. Chace, in an announcement July 30, 2003. Wagner comes to Emory from Case Western Reserve University, where he has served as provost and university vice president since September 2000. From May 2001 until August 2002, Wagner served as interim president of CWRU.

As the presidential search drew to a close, said Ben F. Johnson III, chair of the Board of Trustees and of the search committee, the group was “unanimous in feeling that one candidate stood taller than the rest.

“I have never been more convinced of anything in my life than . . . that Jim Wagner will be the best possible president Emory could have in the years going forward,” he said.

As CWRU provost and vice president, Wagner was the university’s top academic officer. Wagner also served as dean and professor of materials science at the Case School of Engineering from 1998 to 2000. Before his arrival at CWRU, Wagner was professor of materials science and engineering at the Johns Hopkins University’s Whiting School of Engineering, and director of the Materials Research Center of Excellence. He holds a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Delaware, and and MS in clinical engineering and a PhD in materials science and engineering from Johns Hopkins.

Emory, said Wagner, has tremendous potential as a “research-oriented, values-driven” university.

“There is a palpable eagerness [at Emory] to define and refine a crisp vision,” Wagner said. “I am excited to be part of setting that vision.”–P.P.P.