12-21-01

By Mark Floyd, 541-737-0788
SOURCES: Tim White, 541-737-0788
Tammy Bray, 614-247-7825

CORVALLIS - An Ohio State University educator and administrator who is a national leader in studying the role of nutrition in the prevention of diabetes and other diseases has been tabbed to lead an emerging new program at Oregon State University.

Tammy Bray Click on image to go to downloadable photo

Tammy M. Bray, a professor of nutrition at Ohio State, has been named dean of the proposed new College of Health and Human Sciences at Oregon State. This new college integrates many of the programs and degrees from the existing College of Home Economics and College of Health and Human Performance.

OSU's faculty senate has unanimously approved the integration of the two programs; the university now will seek formal approval from the Oregon State Board of Higher Education.

Bray will head the new college beginning Sept. 1, 2002.

Bray, who also serves as associate dean for research and international studies at Ohio State, said Oregon State's strengths in health, human physiology, nutrition and human development - and its vision of how those fields can be melded into a dynamic new college - attracted her to the position.

"This new, integrated college combines all of the essential elements needed to build an innovative, one-of-a-kind program dedicated to all aspects of human well-being," Bray said, "from exercise and nutrition to health care administration and policy; from apparels to housing and merchandising; from early childhood development to gerontology; from individual and well-being to family studies and community services.

"I am not aware of any university in the country that has undertaken to build such a program with this unique scope," she added.

Tim White, OSU's provost and executive vice president, said the appointment of Bray to lead the emerging College of Health and Human Sciences is one of the first visible examples of how the university is redesigning itself to create better opportunities for students and to better align itself with the external environment.

Tammy Bray Click on image to go to downloadable photo

"When we began the search process for a dean, we knew that there would be candidates who would be strong in public health, family and consumer sciences, or exercise and sports sciences," White said. "With Tammy Bray, we have a scholar and skilled administrator who possesses insights in all of these areas.

"Her skills and experiences directly align with the new focus of our redesigned college, and they will contribute significantly to OSU's increasing strengths in the biosciences and their application to human health," White added. "This is simply a terrific appointment for Oregon State University."

A native of Taiwan, Bray is a 1967 graduate of Fu-Jen University in Taipei. She has a master's degree in nutrition and a Ph.D. in nutrition and biochemistry - both from Washington State University.

For the past six years, Bray has been on the faculty and administration of The Ohio State University. She was selected in 1995 to chair the Department of Human Nutrition and Food Management, and also had an appointment as a professor of medical biochemistry. She was tabbed as associate dean in the College of Human Ecology in 1999, and she also directs the university's Ohio Bionutrition Research Initiative.

Prior to joining the faculty at Ohio State, Bray served on the faculty of the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, for 17 years.

As a researcher, Bray has studied the role of antioxidants and oxidative stress in health and disease. She also has studied gene expression and nutrition, and protein energy malnutrition in children. During her career, she has attracted more than $8 million in research funding from the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other sources.

Bray has published more than a hundred articles in peer-reviewed journals and written two books, including a food guide for cancer patients, "Champions in the Kitchen - Good Food for Healthful Living."

As dean of the proposed College of Health and Human Sciences, Bray will oversee programs in two colleges that include:

• The Department of Apparel, Interiors, Housing and Merchandising;
• The Department of Exercise and Sport Science;
• The Department of Human Development and Family Sciences;
• The Department of Nutrition and Food Management;
• The Department of Public Health;
• The statewide Extension Family and Community Development Program.

"Merging the many talented faculty members from different disciplines will create a lot of opportunities for new and unique collaboration in teaching, research, scholarship and outreach," Bray said. "I expect that the resulting synergy from those efforts will positively affect the way we live today and in the future."

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