will serve as an L3Harris Endowed Professor
Kiss joins Florida Tech on May 1 after serving since 2016 as the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of biology at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Florida Tech President John Nicklow announced today that John Z. Kiss has been named provost and senior vice president for academic affairs.
The appointment follows a national search to find the university’s next chief academic officer. He also will serve as an L3Harris Endowed Professor.
Kiss joins Florida Tech on May 1 after serving since 2016 as the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of biology at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.
“I am delighted to be joining Florida Tech as the next provost,” Kiss said. “Florida Tech is on an excellent trajectory, and I am excited about contributing to this positive momentum. I also share President Nicklow’s vision of making Florida Tech the top choice for students interested in STEM fields from all over the state, nation, and world.”
Kiss’s research focuses on the gravitational and space biology of plants. He has published 128 peer-reviewed papers, most co-authored with his students. He also has been invited to present seminars based on his research at universities throughout the U.S. and in 14 other countries.
Kiss has served as principal investigator on grants from NASA, the USDA, NSF, and the NIH with a career total of $6 million. He has also served as a principal investigator on eight spaceflight experiments on the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station.
At UNC Greensboro, Kiss worked to hire excellent faculty who exemplify the teacher-scholar model and strengthen the research profile in the college, where external grants increased 150 percent during his tenure. He also championed equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives in hiring and leadership while launching a dean’s award for diversity and inclusiveness.
When Kiss interviewed on campus last month as a finalist for the provost’s position, he was positively received by faculty, students, and staff and earned strong support.
“Dr. Kiss brings a student-centered philosophy to all he does, and that’s exactly the approach we appreciate at Florida Tech,” Nicklow said. “His accomplishments are numerous and his academic and research records certainly distinguished. His focus on student success is what impresses me most—and I and the entire Florida Tech team look forward to working with him.”
In 2014, Kiss received the NASA Outstanding Public Leadership Medal “for exceptional contributions in spaceflight research in the fundamental biology of plants in support of NASA’s exploration mission.” In 2021, he received the International Cooperation Medal from the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR), and asteroid Kiss 8267 was named in his honor.
Kiss served as dean of the Graduate School at the University of Mississippi from 2012-16. He was on the faculty of Miami University from 1993 to 2012 where he was a university distinguished professor and chair of the Botany Department. He holds a B.S. in biology from Georgetown University and a Ph.D. in botany and plant physiology from Rutgers University.
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