Prema Arasu has been named associate vice president for international programs and chief international officer at Washington State University. She is currently associate vice provost, Office of International Affairs at North Carolina State University, as well as the director of Global Health Initiative and professor at the Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine.

John Gardner, vice president for economic development and global engagement, said “I am very pleased that Dr. Arasu has agreed to lead international programs at Washington State University. Her extensive background in international affairs and focus on interdisciplinary scholarship makes her uniquely suited to not only build on existing strengths in IP, but also to foster even greater collaboration around issues of clean technology, sustainable development and global health."

Arasu has spent the past 15 years at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, serving in a wide range of research, teaching and administrative capacities. She has extensive contacts in China, India and a number of countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia. She will also be bringing part of a USDA International Science and Education grant on "Sustainable Development: Biofuels, Livestock Production and Health.”

"WSU's strategic priorities in clean technologies, health, food and agriculture, align strongly with our state, national and global concerns of today. As chief international officer, I am truly excited about working with students, staff and faculty to seamlessly meld international programs and global engagement with WSU's land grant missions of research, teaching and outreach,” Arasu said.

Arasu received her doctorate in microbiology and immunology from Hahnemann University in Philadelphia, her D.V.M. from Cornell University, an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a master’s in food science from the University of Wyoming.

Arasu will have administrative oversight responsibility for education abroad, international student recruitment, international students and scholars, international research and development activities, intensive language training and recruitment, and the global studies degree program. She is succeeding the late Lance Leloup and will report to Gardner.

She will be based on the Pullman campus. Her appointment will begin no later than June 1, 2010.

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