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Mark Boley with Ryan Gordon at WIU (2004). Gordon, a 2005 graduate with bachelor of science degrees in physics and mathematics and one of Western's two Goldwater Scholarship recipients, is a graduate student at Iowa State University.
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Boley Named WIU's Interim Chair of Physics

January 23, 2009

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MACOMB, IL - - Western Illinois University Physics Professor Mark S. Boley has been appointed interim chair of the physics department, effective Jan. 2, according to College of Arts and Sciences Dean Inessa Levi.

Boley takes over from Vivian Incera, who resigned from the university to assume a post at the University of Texas – El Paso.

"I am grateful to Mark for stepping up to help us while we conduct a national search for a new chairperson in the Department of Physics," Levi said. "Mark's administrative experience will serve him and the department well in the coming months."

Boley has served on the University Research Day Committee since its inception, the University Honors Council, the college curriculum committee, faculty council, Environmental Studies minor committee, college assessment committee, and grade appeals and search committees. Within the physics department he has chaired the personnel committee; served on search committees, the curriculum and scheduling committee; and chaired the graduate program committee, for which he has served as coordinator since 1994.

A WIU alumnus with a bachelor's degree (1987) and a master's degree (1989) in physics, Boley returned to his alma mater in December 1993 as a physics faculty member. He has held posts at Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he earned his doctorate in experimental condensed matter physics (1993). He was promoted to full professor at Western in May 2002.

He was recognized by the College of Arts and Sciences in 2005 for excellence in research/scholarship and undergraduate research career mentoring. In 1998, Boley was honored by the college for excellence in teaching and supporting students, including involving students in research, independent studies, professional publications and presentations; and for making improvements in introductory courses. Two of Boley's student researchers received the highly esteemed Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, the premier undergraduate award in the fields of mathematics, natural sciences and engineering; and he has helped to send four of his student researchers on to post-graduate studies with prestigious Phi Kappa Phi National Fellowship Awards. Boley's research is available at wiu.edu/physics/faculty/boley.shtml.


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