Chris Culbertson appointed dean at University of South Carolina

Chris Culbertson, dean of Kansas State University's College of Arts and Sciences, has been named dean of the McCausland College of Arts and Sciences at the University of South Carolina, effective July 1. Details on a search for an interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences will be announced soon, and a national search will be conducted later for a permanent replacement.

"We are grateful for Dr. Culbertson's stewardship of K-State's largest college," said Jesse Perez Mendez, provost and executive vice president. "His commitment to exceptional student experiences and the land-grant mission of teaching, research and service has made a lasting impact."

Culbertson joined K-State as an assistant professor in 2002. He was promoted to associate professor in 2008 and professor in 2018. He co-founded the Molecular Biosensing Diagnostics lab in 2017 and became associate dean for research in 2019. He was named dean of the college in 2023 after serving as interim for a year.

His long history of service to the university includes serving on the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry advisory committee, the University Budget Steering Committee, the Conflict of Interest and Conflict of Time and Commitment Disclosure and Management Plan Review Committee, Campus Planning and Development Advisory Committee and several college and department committees.

Culbertson’s many awards and honors include the Stamey Award for Undergraduate Advising in 2010 and 2013, a National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2006, the Karcher Medal from the University of Oklahoma, the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of West Florida, the Segebrecht Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award and the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry Award for Young Investigators in Separation Science.

He has authored more than 65 publications, journal articles or book chapters and has presented his work nationally and internationally. Culbertson, who holds 10 patents, was listed among the top 2% of cited researchers worldwide, according to studies conducted by Stanford University based on data between 2020 and 2025.

Culbertson holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Harvard College, a second bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of West Florida, a doctoral degree in analytical chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and he served as a postdoctoral fellow at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.