C. Michael Moriarty, former Auburn associate provost and VP for research, passes away

C. Michael Moriarty, Auburn University associate provost and vice president for research from 1993-2006, passed away Jan. 14 after a brief illness. He was 81 years old.

A native of New York, Moriarty earned his bachelor's degree from Carnegie Mellon University, along with a master's from Cornell University and a doctorate from the University of Rochester. After moving forward with his own research program, he entered research administration and support infrastructure as an associate vice president for research at the University of Georgia.

Upon arriving at Auburn as associate provost and vice president for research in 1993, he immediately began to grow the research program, implementing an equipment cost-sharing program for campus, contributing to faculty start-up packages and instituting internal grants to help investigators build new research programs. He also moved to bridge existing efforts between funding opportunities and was instrumental in the formation of the Auburn University Research and Technology Foundation.

In addition, Moriarty was heavily involved in staff and faculty recognition efforts, implementing a Meritorious Service Award to recognize individuals in the Office of the Vice President for Research whose job performance and service were exemplary. Similarly, he introduced the Creative Research and Scholarship Awards to recognize exceptional faculty contributions to research. Under his leadership, Auburn research expenditures, as reported to the National Science Foundation Higher Education Research and Development rankings survey, rose exponentially, from $75.7 million in fiscal year 1994 to $126.5 million in fiscal year 2006.

After retiring from Auburn in 2006, Moriarty took a similar post at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida, where in three short years he more than doubled Florida Atlantic University’s research portfolio—leading to a 32-position jump in the university’s national research ranking as reported by the National Science Foundation. He left FAU in 2009 to retire to the north Georgia mountains in the Blue Ridge area.

“Mike was an exemplar of research advancement and funding development at Georgia, Auburn and in post-retirement at Florida Atlantic University,” said Martha Taylor, assistant vice president for research and a former colleague of Moriarty's. “He was also, above all, a believer in, and advocate for, people with vision. His personal gift of expressing confidence in peoples’ abilities and of supporting them with the resources needed to help them perform was instrumental in the team-building and excellence required to advance the mission of several major academic institutions, and especially Auburn.”

Moriarty is survived by his wife, Donna; two sons; one daughter; and multiple grandchildren. The family also is collecting letters of support and reminiscence. They may be emailed to donnarmoriarty@gmail.com.

(Written by Mike Jernigan)