Glenn Dryhurst Set to Retire

On February 28, 2007, Dr. Glenn Dryhurst will retire bringing to a close a 40 year career as a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Dryhurst was born and educated in his native England receiving his Ph.D degree in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Birmingham in 1965. He then joined the laboratory of the late Phillip J. Elving at the University of Michigan where he spent the next two years learning new research skills in the area of electroanalytical chemistry. In the fall of 1967, Dryhurst joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Oklahoma as an untenured Assistant Professor. He was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor in 1970 and promoted to full Professor in 1974.

During the first 20 years as an independent scientist, Dryhurst became a leading authority on electrochemical oxidation chemistry and interfacial behaviors of biologically important N-heterocyclic compounds. Beginning in August 1987, Dryhurst spent a year as a Fulbright Senior Professor at Konstanz University in Germany laying the foundation for a new research area concerned with chemical and biochemical processes and mechanisms that might contribute to the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders of the brain such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.

Upon returning to the his laboratory in Norman, Dryhurst immediately set about establishing a new neurochemistry/neurobiology laboratory equipped with the facilities needed to contribute to the an understanding of these brain disorders  in studies ranging from the oxidation chemistry of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin, and the effects of the resulting metabolites on brain enzymes and mitochondria known to be compromised in neurodegenerative disorders. In addition, in vivo studies were aimed at understanding the mechanisms underlying the neurotoxic effects of  drugs such as 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropridine,  methamphetamine, and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamins (Ecstacy) that mediate selective neurotoxicity by mechanisms related to those which occur in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. This and much earlier work was carried out with his long time collaborator and wife, Research Professor Monika Z. Wrona.

Over the course of his 40 year career at OU Dryhurst published more than 200 original research articles and reviews in addition to authoring four books. He organized several major symposia in the US, Canada and Europe, served as Divisional Editor for Organic and Biological Electrochemistry of the Journal of the Electrochemical Society, as Chairman of the Organic and Biological Division of the Electrochemical Society, and as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Electrochemical Society.  He also served on the Editorial Advisory Board of the American Chemical Society journal Chemical Research in Toxicology, the Editorial Board of Neurotoxicity Research, and on the Executive Committee of the Oklahoma Center for Neuroscience in which he was a mentoring faculty member. Dryhurst’s research was continuously funded by  federal granting agencies (National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health) between 1967 and 2005. He delivered invited and plenary lectures throughout the world and his work has been recognized by numerous awards and honors including the Young Author Prize of The Electrochemical Society (1969), Sigma Xi Research Award (1972), George Lynn Cross Research Professorship (1983),  Fulbright Senior Professor Award (1988),  Oklahoma Chemist Award of the American Chemical Society (1989), Honorary Phi Beta Kappa (1990), Heyrovsky Centennial Medal of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (1990), and a Regents’ Professorship (1998).

During his career at OU, Dryhurst directed the research of more than 70 PhD, MS,  postdoctoral research associates and undergraduates, many of whom have gone on to important positions in academia and in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry throughout the world. However, his most important contributions are probably the result of his efforts as chairman of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Dryhurst served as acting chairman  for the 1975-1976 academic year. It was during this period that the Alumni Program for Excellence (APEX) Magazine was first introduced, designed to keep alumni and friends of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry up to date with news of activities of faculty, students and staff.

In early 1981, Dryhurst was appointed chair of the department by the then Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, James R. Burwell, a position he held continuously until August of 2006, the longest tenure of any head/chair in departmental history except for the first head, Dr. Edwin C. Debarr, one of the initial four faculty at the University of Oklahoma. Dryhurst was the ninth person since 1892 to serve as permanent chair of the department.

During his tenure as chair, Dryhurst set a goal of building a department that would ultimately be ranked among the top chemistry/biochemistry programs in the United States, i.e., a department where students are exposed to internationally recognized research and teaching, first rate mentors, and state-of-the-art facilities. Much progress was made towards achieving this ambitious goal by recruiting superior faculty and providing them with the necessary resources to succeed, setting a high priority on the continuing professional development of faculty and staff, establishing several new professional staff positions, and ensuring continuing improvements in the undergraduate and graduate programs. That such progress has been achieved can be drawn from the fact that for several years the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry has been ranked among the top 50 programs in the United States in terms of research expenditures.

It was during this period that seven of senior faculty held George Lynn Cross Research Professorships, an unprecedented record at the University of Oklahoma, and many more were recognized with Regents’ Awards for Research and Teaching, Amoco Teaching Awards, David Ross Boyd Professorships, Presidential Professorships, and Regents’ Professorships to name but a few of the honors and awards received by faculty. The undergraduate program now ranks among the very best in the country both in terms of the number of graduates, their impressive list of awards and honors that recently have included  a Rhodes Scholarship, Fulbright  and numerous Goldwater Fellowships, many Carl Albert Awards for the outstanding seniors in the College of Arts and Sciences to name but a few, and their successful careers in science and medicine.

Perhaps Dryhurst’s most lasting legacy has been his efforts over many years to acquire better and larger facilities for teaching and research in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. These efforts led to many renovations and expansions of current facilities in the Chemistry Building, Chemistry Annex, and the Physical Sciences Center and the recently announced funding for Phase I of a completely new building to house the department on the South (Research) Campus of the University of Oklahoma.