Administration
Administrative Team
Department of Cell and Developmental Biology
U-3218 MRB III
Nashville, TN 37232-8240
(615)322-2134 , fax (615)343-4539
Susan R. Wente, Professor & Chair
Tel: 615.936.3443
Dr. Wente joined Vanderbilt University Medical Center in July 2002, accepting the position of Professor and Chair of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology. She also serves as the Associate Director of the Medical Scientist Training Program at VUMC.
Dr. Wente completed undergraduate studies in Biochemistry at the University of Iowa. She received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1988 with Dr. Howard Schachman. Her graduate thesis focused on an analysis of site-directed mutations that altered the active site and the nucleotide binding site of the model allosteric enzyme aspartate transcarbamylase. Dr. Wente went on to do a one year fellowship studying the tyrosine kinase domain of the human insulin receptor with Dr. Ora Rosen at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. A postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Günter Blobel followed in the Laboratory of Cell Biology at The Rockefeller University. During her studies with Dr. Blobel, Dr. Wente initiated an analysis of yeast nuclear pore complex structure and function. In 1993, Dr. Wente was named an assistant professor in Cell Biology and Physiology at the Washington University School of Medicine. She was promoted to associate professor in 1998 and joined Vanderbilt University Department of Cell and Developmental Biology in 2002.
Jim Slater, Department Administrator
Tel: 615.343.4905
Jim is responsible for providing the department chair with insightful counsel to manage financial resources, personnel resources, and space allocations of the department. He interprets essential administrative and compliance requirements for department faculty, students, and staff. He provides financial planning and feedback for department faculty and prepares budget submissions with principal investigators. In addition, Jim provides leadership for a knowledgeable and effective administrative team to conduct the daily operations of the department’s business.
Angela D. Land-Dedrick, Assistant to the Chair
Tel: 615.936.3455
Angela serves as personal assistant to the department chair, Susan R. Wente, taking care of the administrative details for both the department and the Wente laboratory. She provides direct support to Dr. Wente to organize all aspects of faculty recruiting. Angela provides administrative support for core departmental committees and manages the academic appointments of primary and secondary faculty in the department. Angela works closely with Marc Wozniak to create and maintain printed and electronic publications such as the department website, newsletters and posters. Angela assists Jim Slater with faculty compliance requirements and is in charge of much of the department public relations material.
Susan McMillen, Grants Manager
Tel: 615.936.2112
Susan provides expertise for all grant proposals and progress reports, application processes, and funding agency requirements for faculty members, graduate students, and research fellows. Post award support includes center requests; budget preparation including budget revisions; and coordination of financial status reports with the Department of Finance. Susan facilitates assurance of compliance requirements from the perspective of VUMC and the funding agencies.
Carol Johnson, Procurement System Administrator and Office Manager
Tel: 615.343.7188
Carol coordinates procurement processes for principal investigators and lab managers at the transaction level, and coordinates the department office environment. She is the System Administrator for Procurement Card Program and e-Procurement Purchase Order System. In addition, Carol prepares the monthly budget reports for faculty.
Elaine O. Caine, Graduate Program Manager
Tel: 615.322.2294
Elaine guides CDB graduate students from IGP rotation and admission into the department to Dissertation Defense. She schedules their classes, their qualifying exam, yearly committee meetings and dissertation defense. Also, she processes their tuition, insurance and fee payments – and confirms that they are paid, too. She is always available for advising, as the need arises. Elaine keeps track of required reading for several CBIO courses, posting assignments on the web, records all grades, returns graded papers to students, and submits all grade sheets to the Registrar’s office on time.
Ian McCullough, Equipment Resource Manager
Tel: 615.322.8326
Ian maintains the common departmental equipment and supervises staff of the dishwashing and autoclave facilities. He provides user training, directs users to the appropriate instrument for their research need, and provides information about new applications, procedures and services. All questions, comments and concerns with regard to the common equipment should be directed to Ian.
Marc Wozniak, Computer Systems Analyst III
Tel: 615.343.3605
Marc Wozniak is responsible for supporting all aspects of the department’s computing & technology environment, supporting research, administration and education.
Cindy Young, Personnel Manager
Tel: 615.343.8342
Cindy personalizes and provides positive experiences for all new recruits by scheduling orientation, preparing documentation for the payroll system, and establishing email accounts. She manages all aspects of the payroll process. Cindy coordinates with Human Resources including Benefits, Payroll, Recruitment and Staffing, and Classification and Compensation concerning the department’s positions and personnel. Cindy also keeps academic appointments of non-tenure-track faculty and research fellows up-to-date.