[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 7]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 9152-9153]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING DR. LUIS PROENZA

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. TIM RYAN

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 28, 2014

  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the career 
of Dr. Luis Proenza, who dedicated his extraordinary abilities to 
education and public service. Upon his retirement as the President of 
The University of Akron, his tremendous leadership as President will be 
greatly missed.
  Dr. Proenza's career in education started long before his time as 
University President in Akron, Ohio. After graduating with a Ph.D. in 
1971 from the University of Minnesota, Dr. Proenza joined the faculty 
of the University of Georgia as a professor, where he gained prominence 
as a researcher in retinal neurophysiology, eventually being named to 
the National Research Council-National Academy of Science's Committee 
on Vision. In 2001, President George W. Bush named Dr. Proenza to the 
President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, our nation's 
highest-level policy advisory group for science and technology.
  During his record setting 15-year tenure as a University President in 
Ohio, Dr. Proenza's creative leadership helped develop The University 
of Akron into a powerful economic engine for regional development. 
Acting as a catalyst for collaborative community initiatives and 
partnerships throughout his tenure, Dr. Proenza helped further solidify 
The University of Akron as Northeast Ohio's preeminent public 
university.
  Under his leadership The University of Akron's research portfolio has 
doubled in size, a fifty-block area surrounding the campus has been 
revitalized, and the Austen Bio-Innovation Institute has been 
established. Also under his direction a partnership with three local 
hospitals and a medical school has emerged to

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help establish Akron as one of the country's leading centers for 
biomaterials and biomedicine.
  I would like to thank Dr. Proenza for the fifteen years he has 
dedicated to our community and the University of Akron. I would also 
like to thank him for his spirit of progress, education, and 
collaboration that has since fostered a movement among other Ohioans.
  Dr. Proenza will become President Emeritus of the University, 
continue his current tenured professorship in biology, and will be 
named University Professor in the Office of Academic Affairs following 
a sabbatical leave.
  Hopefully he and his wife Theresa Butler can spend a lot more time on 
their 44-foot sailboat Apogee, which they designed together and plan to 
sail on Lake Erie.

                          ____________________