Timothy F. Sugrue has been appointed by President Tony Collins to serve as chief executive officer of the Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries, a subsidiary of Clarkson University with operations in Beacon, Troy and Potsdam, N.Y. Sugrue is also currently the dean of Clarkson University's School of Business.

"As part of the new alliance between the Beacon Institute and Clarkson University announced last week, Tim Sugrue takes the helm of Beacon Institute at an important juncture in its history," said Collins. "Under his experienced leadership, he will help the institute deepen its commitment to real-time water monitoring with an intensified focus on R&D and rapid commercialization of novel sensor technologies that can be marketed globally."

Sugrue succeeds environmentalist John Cronin, the institute's founding director, who has been named the first Beacon Institute Fellow at Clarkson University.

During his tenure at Clarkson University, Sugrue has implemented several successful new programs in Clarkson's School of Business, including traditional and online programs in engineering and global operations management, technology and business administration.

With an established research record in corporate finance, he also is an award-winning leader in graduate and undergraduate business education, and in developing and presenting professional and executive programs.

Sugrue, who holds a Ph.D. in business administration from the University of Massachusetts, traces his Hudson Valley roots back to an undergraduate degree in engineering at the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he completed a thesis in river monitoring and competed as a member of the sailing team.

Formerly a professor of finance and senior associate dean at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., Sugrue has taught on the faculty of West Virginia University and as an affiliate faculty member at both the United States Military Academy and the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.

Sugrue served on the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) as a member of the maintenance of accreditation committee from 2004-2008 and recently completed his term on the accreditation quality committee.

Clarkson Provost Thomas C. Young has announced his intentions to retire in 2012 and a national search for his replacement is in progress. Sugrue has agreed to hold both positions through this transition period with a new provost to ensure continuity in the University's academic community.