ANN ARBOR— Professor David Allan will serve as acting dean of the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment for one year while Dean Rosina Bierbaum directs the next annual World Bank report, focused on climate change and development.

Allan is associate dean of academic affairs and a professor at SNRE. He accepted Provost Teresa Sullivan’s invitation to serve as acting dean beginning Sept. 1, 2008.

The appointment will be submitted for U-M Board of Regents approval next month.

“It is an honor, and it’s exciting to serve in this role for a year,” Allan said. “I’ll do the very best job I can to look after the school and its programs while Rosina’s doing important work for the World Bank.”

Allan has spent years studying the ecology and conservation of rivers; he co-authored the books “Stream Ecology” and “Streams: Their Ecology & Life.” Current research topics include: factors that affect the success of stream-restoration projects, landscape influences on river ecosystems, and the effects of altered flow regimes on rivers of the Great Lakes basin.

“SNRE will be in great hands while I’m writing the World Development Report,” Bierbaum said. “Dave is a man of great integrity with strong leadership skills, who will continue working to make the school a center for global change research.”

Bierbaum will join economist Marianne Fay as co-author and co-director of the World Bank’s World Development Report 2010, the latest installment in an annual series that began in 1978.

For more on Allen, visit: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~dallan/

Related links:

SNRE: http://www.snre.umich.edu/

David AllenSNRE