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Dr. Jeffrey Vitter Presented with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who's Who

Cision PR Newswire, 15 October 2019
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Dr. Jeffrey Vitter is endorsed by Marquis Who's Who as a leader in the field of computer science and higher education.

OXFORD, Miss., Oct. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Dr. Jeffrey Vitter with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An accomplished listee, Dr. Vitter celebrates nearly 40 years in the fields of computer science and higher education, in which he has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and successes. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.

Dr. Vitter has garnered a laudable reputation as Distinguished Professor of Computer and Information Science at the University of Mississippi, where he previously served as the 17th chancellor from 2016 until 2019. He previously served as provost, executive vice chancellor, and Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor at the University of Kansas, worked on at Texas A&M University between 2008 and 2010 in various roles as provost, executive vice president for academics, and professor. Dr. Vitter served as the Frederick L. Hovde Dean of the College of Science at Purdue University from 2002 to 2008, and as chair of the Department of Computer Science and co-director for the Center for Geometric and Biological Computing at Duke University between 1993 and 2002, where he held a distinguished professorship as the Gilbert, Louis and Edward Lehrman Professor of Computer Science.

Dr. Vitter first entered the field of academia because of his passion for the power of higher education to transform the lives of students. He began his professional career in 1980 on the faculty in computer science at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, holding professorships of ascending responsibility until 1993 when he went to Duke University. Dr. Vitter first became involved in computer science as an assistant performance analyst on behalf of Standard Oil Company in San Francisco during the summers of 1976 and 1977. Throughout the length of his tenure in academia, he has held numerous visiting and adjunct professorships as well as consulting positions on behalf of such organizations as AT&T, Bell Labs, Center for Computing Sciences, Google, IBM, Institute for Defense Analyses, Microsoft, and Xerox PARC. He is on the boards of Baidu Research, Center for Massive Data Algorithmics, and Institute of Fundamental Research on Data. He is an adjunct professor at Tulane University in his hometown of New Orleans.

A visionary leader, Dr. Vitter has made numerous contributions to higher education in his leadership at universities. He oversaw strategic planning and implementation in his various roles as chair, dean, provost, and most recently as chancellor at the University of Mississippi, contributing to the AAU and/or Carnegie R1 status of his universities. He is especially known for galvanizing broad activity across disciplinary structures to tackle important grand challenges, for which no one discipline has all the answers, and collaboration and cross-pollination are needed. At Ole Miss, he led the development of superlative multidisciplinary networks of faculty called Flagship Constellations, and he advanced much engagement with communities in the state via the M Partner program. A strong advocate for diversity, Dr. Vitter pioneered improved hiring processes that simultaneously advance diversity and excellence, which go hand in hand.

Before embarking upon his professional journey, Dr. Vitter pursued a formal education in his own right, attending the prestigious University of Notre Dame and graduating with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics, with highest honors, in 1977. He further studied at Stanford University, obtaining a Doctor of Philosophy in computer science under Donald Knuth in 1980, and two decades later he earned a Master of Business Administration at Duke University in 2002 while on the faculty there. To remain aware of developments in the field, Dr. Vitter maintains his professional affinity with various organizations, including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), from which he has held numerous positions of authority and gleaned numerous awards, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and the Computing Research Association, where he was a long-time board member.

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