James Pyle
Professor Emeritus of Chemistry
Professor, Ball State University, 1983-2007
Associate Professor of Chemistry, Miami University, 1973-1983
Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Miami University, 1966-1973
Ph.D. Brown University, 1967
Lecturer in Chemistry, University of California-Davis, 1965-1966
B.S. Ohio University, 1960
James Pyle, assistant vice president for research and professor of chemistry, has served Ball State University since 1983. He served in similar capacities at Miami University of Ohio from 1966 to 1983 after receiving his baccalaureate degree from Ohio University and his PhD from Brown University.
As an organic chemist, Dr. Pyle has authored a book and several articles, presented at numerous conferences, acted as proposal and journal reviewer, and directed the research studies of many graduate and undergraduate students.
As a research administrator, he has distinguished himself at the national, regional, and local levels. He was president of the 2,600-member Society of Research Administrators (SRA) International in 1994-95 and has been recognized by the SRA with its Hartford-Nicholsen Award in 1991 and the Honorary Distinguished Faculty Member Award in 2006. He has been a prime mover in the national professional certification initiative and has served twice as chair of the Research Administrators Certification Council.
At Ball State, Dr. Pyle has led the charge to strengthen faculty and student research programs through external funding. To that end, as head of the Office of Academic Research and Sponsored Programs (OARSP), he instituted the OARSP Faculty Fellows program and BeneFacta, an annual publication featuring outstanding externally funded researchers. A regular feature of the monthly Research newsletter has been his commentary, which invariably provided an encouraging word for the Ball State research agenda. During his tenure, annual research funding grew from $1.5 million to $25 million. In recognition of his efforts, Dr. Pyle was named Ball State’s Outstanding Administrator in 1998.
Off campus, Jim Pyle is known for his enthusiasm for barbershop singing. He has served as producer of the World Harmony Jamboree at several conventions of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America.