Posted 01/25/2007

Arnold School faculty moving to new positions at USC
 and San Diego State University

Arnold School Dean Donna Richter announced two important faculty changes this week:

Dr. Greg Hand, a second generation USC faculty member, has been named associate dean for academic affairs.  Hand is an associate professor in the Arnold School’s Department of Exercise Science where he also directs the Neurobiology and Behavior Laboratory.

In making the announcement of Hand’s appointment, Dean Richter also noted the upcoming departure of Dr. Carleen Stoskopf, chair of the Department of Health Services Policy and Management.  Stoskopf will be leaving USC to become the director of the Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University.

Hand is a Texas native. He moved to Columbia as a youth when his father, Jack, accepted an appointment with the USC Psychology Department. The elder Hand taught for 32 years.

A graduate of Cardinal Newman High School, Hand earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education from USC in 1988.  He received his master’s degree in exercise physiology from the University of Arizona in 1990.

After finishing his doctorate in physiology and neurobiology from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in 1995, he returned to Columbia to join the faculty at the Arnold School’s Department of Exercise Science.  He also earned a master’s of public health from USC in 2004 while working as a faculty member.

Hand has focused on the physiology of stress and its associated symptoms, studying different mechanisms to reduce those symptoms in different clinical populations.

Widely published in academic circles, Hand has served as a consultant to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine of the National Institutes of Health. In 1995 he was the recipient of a research award from the American Physiological Society.

In 2001 he was presented the James A. Keith Excellence in Teaching Award, one of the most prestigious honors granted by the Arnold School.

In his new position, Hand will work with Dean Richter in addressing faculty and curricular issues as well as related projects.

“I am thrilled to have Dr. Hand in this important administrative role,” said Richter.  “His involvement will be a wonderful complement to our administrative team and will allow us to further the academic momentum of the Arnold School.”

Hand will continue his research in the Department of Exercise Science.  He is currently working on studies involving persons living with HIV and individuals with a high risk for prostate cancer.  He has also submitted grant proposals for projects in collaboration with other faculty members on diabetes and post-menopausal health in women.

Stoskopf has been on Arnold School faculty since 1988.  She earned a bachelor’s degree in 1978 from Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, IN and a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota in 1997. She earned her doctorate in 1989 from Johns Hopkins University.

In her new job, she will direct the activities of a 25-year-old public health school with an enrollment of about 340 students and five separate divisions covering a range of health-related disciplines. 

SDSU is one of the 23 campuses of the California State University System with an enrolment of about 33,000.

Stoskopf says she’s excited by SDSU’s pending approval of a PhD program in global health and an academic program that has the potential to fill needs in places such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Southern China and Indonesia.

Stoskopf is already an expert in running doctoral programs abroad, as she has been instrumental in the Arnold School’s programs in Korea and Taiwan.

Distance learning, another strong feature of Stoskopf’s department at USC, is something she would like to strengthen at SDSU where she will start work officially on July 31. 

Dean Richter said she has mixed feeling about Stoskopf’s departure. “While it is sad to see Dr. Stoskopf leave the Arnold School, she is beginning an exciting new adventure and I wish her every success, as I'm sure we all do.”