Kevin Smith
Scholarly Communications Officer
Duke University

Kevin Smith is the Scholarly Communications Officer at Duke University, a position he has held since it was created in June 2006. In that role he consults with faculty, staff, administrators, and students about copyright, licensing, and scholarly publishing issues. He also offers educational programs to various faculty and student groups, works on intellectual property policy for the university, and advises Duke on national legislative issues that effect scholarly communications. Kevin began his academic career with graduate work in theology at Yale Divinity School and the University of Chicago. After completing an MLS, he served as a reference librarian in both theological schools and at liberal arts colleges. Before moving to Duke he was Library Director at Defiance College in northwest Ohio. His interest in copyright, intellectual freedom, and civil rights lead him to attend law school part-time starting in 2001. He received a JD in 2005 and was admitted to the bar in Ohio after that year. Before moving to Duke to work full-time on scholarly communications issues, he greatly enjoyed teaching constitutional law to undergraduate students, and he remains an interested and critical observer of the Supreme Court around issues of religious freedom and establishment. Kevin gives frequent presentations on copyright, licensing, and authors’ rights for the Duke faculty and to national librarians’ organizations.

James N. Siedow
Vice Provost for Research and
Professor of Biology
Duke University

Jim Siedow received his BA from the University of Texas at Austin in 1969 and completed his PhD in plant biochemistry from Indiana University in 1972. He did postdoctoral research at the University of Michigan and Rice University before joining the Duke faculty as an Assistant Professor of Botany in 1976. He became a Full Professor of Botany in 1987 and a Professor of Biology in 2000. He was a recipient of the Trinity College Distinguished Teaching Award in 1984. Past service at Duke includes election to the Executive Committee of the Academic Council (1992-93) and Chair of the Academic Council (1994-96). He also served as the Dean of Faculty Development in Arts and Sciences from 1997-99. He became Vice Provost for Research in January 2001.

Professionally, Siedow has held numerous positions in the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB), including President, Chair of the Board of Trustees, Secretary, and Chair of the Public Affairs Committee. He spent a year as a Program Director of the Cellular Biochemistry Program at the National Science Foundation in 1998-99. He serves as a fellow on both the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and ASPB and has served as an Associate Editor of the journal Plant Physiology and Editor of Plant Science and is currently an Associate Editor of the Journal of Biological Chemistry and Plant Molecular Biology and on the Editorial Boards of Current Opinion in Plant Biology and Genome Biology.

Siedow's research has involved the study of oxidative processes in higher plants with an emphasis on those related to plant respiration. A long-term project in his laboratory has involved characterizing the structural and regulatory features of the unusual cyanide-resistant oxidase found in all plant mitochondria. A second, long-term collaboration with a group at North Carolina State University led to elucidation of the molecular mode of action of a toxin associated with the fungus responsible for Southern Corn Leaf Blight.

Tony G. Waldrop
Vice Chancellor for Research & Economic Development
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Tony Waldrop is Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development and Professor of Cell and Molecular Physiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Waldrop, a Columbus NC native, was a Morehead Scholar receiving an AB in political science in 1974 and a PhD in physiology both from the University of North Carolina. Prior to his current position, he was a professor of molecular and integrative physiology and Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Dr. Waldrop is also serving currently as President of the Triangle Universities Center for Advanced Studies Incorporated, serves as a Board member for NC IDEA, RTI, Kenan Institute Asia, Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, and Americans for Medical Progress.