Last modified: Wednesday, April 9, 2003
Londergan named director of Wells Scholars Program
J. Timothy Londergan has been named director of Indiana University's Herman B Wells Program for Outstanding Young Scholars. Londergan will replace Scott Sanders, Distinguished Professor of English, who has served as director since 1998. The first director, Breon Mitchell, now director of the Lilly Library, served from 1988 to 1998. Londergan will assume the directorship of the Wells Program on July 1.
Each year the Wells Scholars Program brings to the Bloomington campus approximately 20 entering freshmen who show exceptional intellect and leadership. The program, named for IU's long-time president and university chancellor, has been fully endowed by private contributions. Students receive four-year scholarships covering all costs of attendance.
In making the announcement, Bloomington Chancellor Sharon Stephens Brehm praised Londergan's high academic standards, his intellectual curiosity and his dedication to students.
"Tim will be a wonderful director and will work marvelously well with the scholars," Brehm said. "I know that he will continue to expand upon the growing reputation of this program as one of the outstanding opportunities for academically talented high school graduates throughout the country."
Londergan, a former Rhodes Scholar, chaired the campus Rhodes/Marshall/Churchill Scholarships Committee from 1975 to 1986. He also has been a member of the Wells Scholar Advisory Committee. His son Benjamin was a Wells Scholar beginning in fall 1994.
"I am very excited to join the Wells program staff," Londergan said. "Although Scott Sanders is truly irreplaceable, I will do everything I can to maintain the standards of excellence of the Wells Scholars Program, and to make the program a living tribute to the legacy of Herman Wells."
Londergan, professor of physics, has been at IU Bloomington since 1973. He earned his bachelor's degree with high distinction from the University of Rochester and his Ph.D. degree from Oxford University.
He served as chair of the IUB Physics Department from 1990 to 1997. During that time, the department introduced a new graduate core curriculum, developed a graduate recruitment committee and inaugurated a departmental Web site. He also has participated in the 20-year-old National Science Foundation-sponsored summer research program for undergraduates at the IU Cyclotron Facility. Since 1997, he has served as director of the IU Nuclear Theory Center. Londergan's research has been supported by NSF since 1976, for most of that time in collaboration with his IU colleague George Walker.
