In announcing the appointment, CSUN's Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Harry Hellenbrand said Stinner "brings a wealth of administrative experience, teaching and scholarly activities to the position."

The Georgia native looks forward to his tenure at Northridge. "During my visit to CSUN, I was extremely impressed by the exceptional talent and dedication of the faculty, staff and administration," he said. "Their obvious enthusiasm, spirit of cooperation and desire to move forward played a major role in my decision."

At the University of Akron in Ohio, Stinner has led the Biology Department since 1993. In that position, Hellenbrand said, the biologist "was highly successful in increasing scholarship and grant activity in the department."

Under Stinner's leadership, the department developed an internship program, increased technological support for faculty and students, pursued a building renovation program and developed systems for enhancing the effectiveness of teaching.

A member of the American Physiology Society and the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Stinner has served as a reviewer for the National Science Foundation and several academic journals. His areas of teaching expertise are comparative animal physiology, human physiology and physiological ecology.