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Crouch's return to research opens VP, provost position

Two and a half years ago as she agreed to leave her post as dean of the College of Graduate Studies to serve as vice president for academic affairs and provost, Rosalie Crouch, Ph.D., made it clear that she would be returning to her first love—research.

“By training, I’m a scientist. I love science, and I’m anxious to get back to it full time,” she said.

And that time has come.

It’s been a pleasure, these 12 years in MUSC administration, Crouch said. But as she steps down as vice president and provost, she sees her chance to give keener focus to her investigation into visual transduction. It’s research that she has kept alive and productive for years of nights and weekends.

 “I came here 25 years ago with grant funding, I’ve kept my funding through the entire period, and I just received a substantial NIH grant to continue,” she said. “It’s the excitement of discovery that keeps me going.”

Crouch plans a sabbatical of study, work and campanology in Geneva, Switzerland; Cambridge, England and Boston, Mass. Campanology, or church bell ringing, has become a hobby for her, Crouch said. She explained that a bell tower can have up to a dozen bells to be rung in specified sequence. “It’s really quite mathematical as well as musical.” 

Her work in visual transduction centers on rhodopsin, “a most convenient model for studying G-protein receptors,” she said. The red, photosensitive pigment in the retinal rods of the eye is directly related to retinal aging and is an excellent model for the G-protein receptors, which are implicated in a number of disease processes, including high blood pressure and cancer.

“Understanding the structural relationships of rhodopsin is not only critical in understanding how vision works, but also in understanding the mechanisms of many biological processes,” she said.

As for her time as provost, Crouch said she took great pleasure in working with student leaders – issues surrounding a university bookstore and child care came to mind – and appreciated the support given her as she has worked with the deans and the faculty. 

“It’s the joy of working at an institution that’s becoming stronger each year.”
 Crouch said that a search committee is being formed to select her replacement and she expects an interim vice president for academic affairs and provost will be announced shortly.