Campus Remembers Longtime Graduate School Dean Collis Geren

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Collis Geren

Collis Geren, longtime dean of the Graduate School at the U of A, died Jan. 2, 2024. Geren served an illustrious 34-year career at the U of A, which included roles as professor, department chair, dean and vice provost for research.

"For decades, Collis Geren embodied the collaborative, student-centered spirit that defines our work at the University of Arkansas," said Ed Pohl, dean of the Graduate School and International Education. "His efforts to expand our research capabilities and grow graduate education — not to mention his passion for teaching and working with students — have been key to the U of A becoming a premier research institution."

"Collis Geren's visionary leadership of the Graduate School was key in transforming the U of A into one of the nation's top universities, and his commitment to student success and research excellence helped lay the groundwork for recent successes that have solidified our reputation as a hub of innovation and life-changing educational opportunities," said Chancellor Charles Robinson. "His enduring impact on the University of Arkansas cannot be overstated."

Geren was born on March 28, 1945, in northeastern Oklahoma, where he grew up working in the family grocery store before earning a bachelor's degree from Northeastern State College. After graduation, he started a high school science program in Picher, Oklahoma.

But he felt a calling to continue his education. Shortly after, he earned a master's degree from Pittsburg State University and a doctorate in biochemistry from Oklahoma State University. After teaching as an assistant professor at the U of A for more than a decade, Geren made the move to higher education administration.

He was appointed associate vice chancellor for research and dean of the Graduate School in 1991, a dual role where he leveraged the strength of graduate education to bolster the university's research enterprise. But no matter the role, he kept students first and foremost in all his decision making.

"His philosophy always was, 'Whatever you can do to help the students — students first,'" said his wife, Lois.

That student-centered approach paid dividends. Under Geren's leadership, graduate enrollment at the U of A grew from less than 2,400 students in 1991 to 3,370 students in 2008, a year before his retirement. He also helped launch and grow several interdisciplinary academic programs.

Along the way, Geren notched numerous awards, including two from the Arkansas Alumni Association — the Distinguished Alumni Award for teaching and research and the Honorary Alumni Award. He was inducted into the university's Teaching Academy as one of its first fellows in 1988 and won the first Research Career Development Award from the National Institute of Health awarded to an Arkansas recipient in 1979. In 2010, Geren received the first Collis R. Geren Award for Contributions to Graduate Education, an award created in his honor.

His colleagues cited his collegiality and vision during his time at the university.

"Collis Geren was brilliant, innovative, unassuming and kind," said Patricia Koski, former dean of the Graduate School and International Education. "His guiding principle for us in the Graduate School was that we would always focus on helping students."

Besides his service to the Graduate School, Geren might have been best known for his expertise with brown recluse spiders, an interest that began after his father suffered from an infected bite from a brown recluse when Geren was a child. His academic career focused on researching spider venoms, specifically the brown recluse's.

"He was the world authority on brown recluse venom," Lois said.

He would take graduate students on "spider safaris," which involved traveling to abandoned barns and houses late at night in search of the eight-legged creatures. They would capture "two to three hundred per night," according to Lois, which they would then take back to a laboratory and freeze to dissect the venom glands.

"The safaris were always exciting," she remembered. "Sometimes we got scorpions, sometimes we got skunks or possums or snakes, or even farmers with shotguns who didn't understand why you were in their neighbors' barns with flashlights."

Geren spent most of his time in retirement pursuing his lifelong love of cars. Lois recalled that he would rebuild "about a car per year."

"Sometimes he'd build it from a pile of scrap, and it would look like something you'd see on TV," she said. "He spent his whole retirement in the garage."

A memorial service is being planned to honor Geren's life, with more details to be provided soon. Those interested in honoring Geren's legacy can make donations to the Collis Geren Award, which is a scholarship fund for graduate students, or the Collis R. Geren and Patricia R. Koski Award for Excellence in Graduate Education, which is given each spring to an outstanding graduate faculty member, outstanding graduate staff member and outstanding GSIE staff member. Donations can be made online (include "Collis Geren Award" in the comments section) or mailed to 1125 W. Maple St., Fayetteville, AR 72701.