Office of the President
Eric W. KalerAbout the President
Eric W. Kaler became the 16th president of the University of Minnesota on July 1, 2011. Dr. Kaler is only the second alumnus to rise to the University’s presidency.
He received his Ph.D. from the University’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science in 1982.
He went on to become one of the nation’s foremost experts on “complex fluids,” which are used in many applications, including drug delivery, the biotech industry, food processing, and the manufacturing of coatings and paints.
Before coming to the ‘U,’ Kaler served from 2007 to 2011 as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, N.Y. He also was Stony Brook’s vice president for Brookhaven National Laboratory affairs.
Previous to his time at Stony Brook, Kaler was a member of the faculty at the University of Delaware from 1989-2007. He served there as chair of the Chemical Engineering Department from 1996 to 2000 and then as dean of the College of Engineering from 2000 to 2007. He was an assistant professor and an associate professor of chemical engineering at the University of Washington from 1982 to 1989.
Kaler has received many awards and recognitions for his research, including election to the National Academy of Engineering in 2010
President Kaler and his wife, Karen, a graphic designer, have two adult sons, Charlie and Sam.
