Professor's departure a blow to chemistry department

For the fifth time in as many years, a chemistry professor is leaving IU for another institution.\nGeorge Christou, who specializes in inorganic chemistry and the use of metals in biology, is moving his research and teaching to the University of Florida after 18 years at IU. He will leave his post at the end of the academic year.\nChristou said his main reasons for leaving were a recent decline in quality of the department, support from administration and ability to recruit.\n"The higher administration hasn't filled me with confidence that we're doing what it takes to rebuild for the 21st century," Christou said. "We no longer are attractive to the best people. Our ability to recruit has been handicapped."\nHe said because of the recent departures of professors, IU is no longer a leader in chemistry as it once was. This decline, Christou said, has also led to demoralization within the department.\nChairperson of the department, distinguished professor Ernest R. Davidson, said the department and Christou were negotiating for months prior to Christou's announcement.\n"We are very disappointed," Davidson said. "This is another serious blow to our department, and we are physically trying to recruit new faculty for his replacement."\nDavidson said the department was looking to replace the professors who had left before the end of the academic year. None of the five most recent departures have been replaced yet, Davidson said.\nChristou held the Earl Blough Professorship and was awarded IU's Teaching Excellence Recognition Award this year. Christou said a topic he is currently examining, the making of nanoscale magnets, is a cutting edge research area. He said the University of Florida was primarily interested in that part of his research.\nMilos Novotny, distinguished professor of chemistry, said he was very sad and disappointed when he found out about Christou's departure.\n"It's like an avalanche coming on us," Novotny said. "It's a terrible thing happening to our department." \nNovotny, who has been at IU since 1971, described a tie that faculty used to feel toward IU, which he feels has disappeared.\n"The market forces are always there. The loyalty people used to have for this institution has been tremendously eroded," Novotny said. "There are times when I feel I should have taken those opportunities I had professionally years ago.\n"We were doing well, there was a sense of community. It's totally missing today."\nNovotny attributed the problem to both department and University leaders.\n"We have internal problems," he said. "There is no question the upper administration has not made those things better." \nChristou said he felt nostalgic about IU and that it was not an easy decision to make.\n"I've been here 18 years, a very enjoyable 18 years," Christou said. "The chemistry department, about five or six years ago, was ranked number 12 to 14 in the national rankings, and then we started losing senior faculty, and we're certainly nowhere near that ranking anymore.\n"There's a general feeling of demoralization about the future," he said.