Lynn Twarog Singer

Dr. Singer serves as the university's Deputy Provost and Vice President for Academic Programs, with reports to her of the Dean of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs, the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies, the Vice President of Student Affairs, the Vice President for Information Technology, and the Associate Provost for the Library, UCITE and the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women.

As a professor of pediatrics, psychiatry, and general medical sciences, Dr. Singer has directed federally funded research projects that represent $25 million of funding to the university, including Project GLAD (Growth, Learning, and Development), a 19-year longitudinal study of infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia and very low birth weight; Project Newborn-Next Steps, a longitudinal study of cocaine-exposed infants and their mothers, through its tenth year; and Project Daisy, a study of infants exposed to MDMA ("ecstasy") based in London which concluded in 2008.

Dr. Singer is a double alumna of Case Western Reserve University, receiving an M.A. and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 1978 and 1979, respectively. Previously she had earned a bachelor's degree from Duquesne University and M.Ed. from the University of Pittsburgh. She has edited two books, Psychosocial Assessment of Adolescents, and Biobehavioral Assessment of Infants, and has authored more than 100 articles in the medical and psychological literature. Dr. Singer also serves on numerous national NIH and other governmental review committees.

In 2001, Dr. Singer was named Vice Provost for Planning and Assessment and Interim Dean of Graduate Studies, and in that same year, she assumed the position of Interim Provost and University Vice President. During her tenure, she charged the Provost's Commission on Research, appointing Professor Lawrence Krauss as its chair; initiated planning for and oversaw the establishment of the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women; and created a separate Office of the Dean of Graduate Studies, increasing the Dean's administrative effort from 30 to 50%, and within it established the Office of Post Doctoral Affairs. Other programs developed under her leadership included the Case-Fisk Partnership; the Women in Science and Engineering Roundtable (WISER) program; and the establishment of a Strategic Hiring Fund to provide the schools supplemental funds to attract underrepresented faculty. She also worked with the Office of Research Administration to establish Research ShowCase, and with the Faculty Senate and Office of Human Resources to provide tuition benefits for domestic partners.

In August, 2002, she became Deputy Provost and Vice President for Academic Programs and Interim Vice President for Medical Affairs. In the latter role, she charged a task force to identify senior women faculty in the School of Medicine who qualified for open endowed chairs, and engaged Interim Dean Jerold Goldberg to award two chairs, increasing the number of women faculty holding chairs by 66%. As Interim Vice President of Medical Affairs, she provided leadership, administrative oversight, and liaison with the LCME and the NIH in the creation of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, a specialty track of the CWRU School of Medicine that trains physician clinical investigators. In this capacity, she also worked closely with the Vice Dean for Medical Education to create the MaryAnn Swetland Center for Environmental Health in the School of Medicine and to incorporate environmental health education throughout the medical student curriculum.

She also led a successful application for a $3.5 million National Science Foundation Institutional Transformation Award (ADVANCE), making CWRU the first private research university to attain one. With the goal of making a more equitable environment to advance women faculty in science and engineering, the Advance steering committee spearheaded the development of numerous faculty supportive policies to create a competitive workplace, including a partner hiring policy, a work release program, automatic extension of the pretenure period for faculty after childbirth or adoption, and a consensual relations policy. As Principal Investigator of ADVANCE, she also led the establishment of an annual Provost's Leadership retreat, the first time the deans and chairs of the university met with the university's academic leadership together to address workplace climate. The program also created a summer research program for underrepresented minority students and established the position of Faculty Diversity Specialist. An institutional research program developed under her direction now incorporates an annual salary equity study and adjustment process to eliminate gender inequities. A tri-annual Faculty Climate Survey and participation in the COACHE survey of junior faculty have resulted in prioritized recommendations to the schools regarding faculty development needs.

She again served as Interim Provost under President Edward Hundert until the arrival of Provost John Anderson, when she resumed the position of Deputy Provost and Vice President for Academic Programs in 2004. In this capacity, she continues to take on a number of important roles, including leadership of the university-wide effort to address Pandemic planning. She also created the university task force on LGBT issues, and chairs the Behavioral Risk Assessment Committee that responds on a timely basis to threatening behavior of faculty and students. In addition to the leadership of the NSF Advance proposal, she has convened cross university faculty and administration to initiate applications for NSF and NIH funded programs, including the Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP), the Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination Program (PAID), S-Stem, and the National Children's Health Study.

As the CWRU representative to the Cleveland Play House Board, she worked to establish a joint fundraising agreement for the CPH-CWRU MFA Theater program.