In an editorial, the Cleveland Plain Dealer looks at the confusion and uncertainty that NASA’s new human spaceflight policy is causing at the Glenn Research Center:
In the span of 48 hours, NASA Glenn had lost its big-ticket mission, the next-generation manned spaceflight program called Constellation, and its director, Woodrow Whitlow, who will soon be off to NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he will be NASA’s associate administrator for mission support.
These two big changes — leadership and mission — come to NASA Glenn with distressing regularity. And lately the mission changes haven’t been tweaks. They’ve been sharp turns…
So now NASA will find something else for Glenn to do, and under new management. Glenn’s history of leadership in power and propulsion systems and the proximity of the Plum Brook Station — an ideal test site for anything from big rockets to next-generation satellites — would seem to suggest a move in that direction. But that’s for NASA to decide….
Finally, a word about Woodrow Whitlow: Quietly — very quietly — he put Glenn on firmer ground than it had been on in years. He had help, of course, from business leaders and especially from Ohio’s congressional delegation. But the job Whitlow did in leading Glenn, day to day, has been commendable. He’ll be a hard man to replace.
You can read the full editorial. The official NASA press release announcing Whitlow’s appointment is below.
NASA PRESS RELEASE
February 3, 2010
On Wednesday, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden named Dr. Woodrow Whitlow, Jr., the associate administrator for Mission Support at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Whitlow will continue to serve as the director of NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland until a successor is named.
In this new position, Whitlow will be responsible for most NASA management operations, including human capital, budget and systems support as well as a variety of other vital cross agency business, institutional and contract support functions.
“Woodrow is a dedicated and valued member of my senior leadership team, and I am pleased he agreed to accept this new challenge,” Bolden said. “As the agency moves forward, we need to streamline the way we do business with a fresh approach and an eye for strategic management and investments. I know the people of Glenn will miss Woodrow, but the entire agency will again have the opportunity to benefit from his insight and experience.”
As the Glenn director since Dec. 25, 2005, Whitlow has led a workforce of more than 3,400 civil service and support service contractors. The center is distinguished by its unique blend of aeronautics and spaceflight research and development experience.
Before being named director of Glenn, Whitlow served as the deputy director of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He assisted the director in determining and implementing center policy and managing and implementing the center’s missions and agency program responsibilities. Areas of responsibility included processing, launch, and recovery of launch vehicles, processing of spacecraft and acquisition of launch services.
Prior to his appointment as deputy director at Kennedy, Whitlow was the director of Research and Technology at Glenn.
Whitlow began his NASA career in 1979 as a research scientist at the agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. He assumed various positions of increasing responsibility before moving to Glenn in 1998. In 1994, he served as director of the Critical Technologies Division in the Office of Aeronautics at NASA Headquarters.
Whitlow earned his bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
WOODROW WHITLOW, JR.
Official NASA Biography
Dr. Woodrow Whitlow Jr. is Director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field in Cleveland, Ohio. Appointed to this position effective December 25, 2005, he is responsible for planning, organizing and directing the activities required to accomplish the missions assigned to the center.
While managing an annual budget of approximately $500 million, he oversees a workforce of approximately 1,680 civil service employees that is supported by approximately 1,580 contractors. The center has 24 major facilities and over 500 specialized research facilities located at the 350-acre Cleveland site and the 6,400-acre Plum Brook Station site in Sandusky, Ohio.
From September 2003 through December 2005, Dr. Whitlow served as the Deputy Director of the NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center. There his duties included assisting the director in determining and implementing center policy and in managing and implementing the center’s missions and agency program responsibilities in the areas of processing, launch, and recovery of launch vehicles; processing of spacecraft; and acquisition of launch services. Prior to this appointment as Deputy Director, he served as the Director of Research and Technology at the Glenn Research Center.
Dr. Whitlow began his professional career in 1979 as a research scientist at the NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. He assumed various positions of increasing responsibility before moving to the Glenn Research Center in 1998. In 1994, he served as Director of the Critical Technologies Division, Office of Aeronautics, at NASA Headquarters.
Dr. Whitlow earned his Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has written nearly 40 technical papers, most in the areas of unsteady transonic flow and aeroelasticity.
Dr. Whitlow has received numerous awards, including U.S. Black Engineer of the Year in Government, NASA Exceptional Service Honor Medal, NASA Equal Opportunity Honor Medal, the (British) Institution of Mechanical Engineers William Sweet Smith Prize and the Presidential Rank of Meritorious Executive. The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics named him an associate fellow in 1993.
Dr. Whitlow and his wife have two daughters and two granddaughters.
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