Mary Rita Cooke Greenwood (born April 11, 1943[citation needed]) is an American academic and nutritionist.
Greenwood had served as president of the University of Hawaiʻi and chancellor of the University of California, Santa Cruz. She had held leadership positions in several academic and profession societies and had served in several scientific organizations within the United States government.
She currently holds an appointment as a Distinguished Professor Emerita of Nutrition and Internal Medicine at the University of California, Davis.
Early life and education
Greenwood was born in 1943 in Gainesville, Florida.[1] Greenwood earned the A.B. degree in biology, Summa cum laude, from Vassar College in 1968.[2] She received her Ph.D. in physiology, Developmental Biology, and Neurosciences from Rockefeller University in 1973,[3] and she completed a postdoctoral study in Human Nutrition at Columbia University in 1974.[1]
Career
She is best known for her position as the associate director for Science in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy[4] (confirmed by the US Senate) during the Clinton Administration. She also served as President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1999. In addition, she has been President of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO)—now the Obesity Society; and also President of the American Society of Clinical Nutrition.
She held various positions in the University of California system: as Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, University of California Office of the President; Chancellor of University of California, Santa Cruz; and Dean of Graduate Studies and Vice Provost at University of California, Davis. During her time at chancellor, she oversaw the opening of the University of California system's first new residential college in 30 years. Her tenure oversaw the hiring of 250 new faculty members and academic programs were expanded by 52 percent.
In 2005, the University of California found that Dr. Greenwood had violated its conflict of interest rules related to a management position created for a colleague with whom she co-owned a rental property.[5] The university found no evidence of improper conduct in a second allegation that she influenced a position held by her son at UC Merced, concluding no pattern of impropriety or ethics violations in regard to both matters that were thoroughly investigated.[6] The university accepted Dr. Greenwood's resignation from the position and affirmed her return to the tenured professorship she formerly held at the University of California, Davis.
Greenwood, M.R.C.; Kovacs North, Karen & Dollenmayer, Judith (1999). "Whose Millennium? The University as a Medium of Culture". American Behavioral Scientist. 42 (6). doi:10.1177/00027649921954598. S2CID144156945.