in 1990. Frank Franz, who was then provost at West Virginia University, was chosen as UAH's fourth president. His wife, Judy Franz, accompanied him and was granted full professorship in the physics faculty. Her renown in the scientific community was reaffirmed when she was named executive officer of the American Physical Society in 1994. At the beginning of the 2006–2007 academic year, Franz announced his plan to step down as president after that year. On July 1, 2007, David B. Williams, formerly a professor of materials science and engineering and the vice provost for research at Lehigh University, began serving as UAH's fifth president. He left in 2011 to join Ohio State University as dean of engineering. The university briefly gained national attention in February 2010 when a professor killed three people and wounded three others during a faculty meeting. Robert Altenkirch was hired as the university's sixth president in September 2011. Altenkirch served as president of the New Jersey Institute of Technology for nine years before joining UAH. In 2019, Darren Dawson, former dean of the College of Engineering at Kansas State University, became UAH's seventh president. Dawson announced his retirement in November 2021, and Charles L. Karr, former dean of the University of Alabama's College of Engineering, was named interim president. In September 2022, Karr was named president. Academics UAH offers 89 degree-granting programs, including 44 bachelor's degree programs, 30 master's degree programs, and 15 PhD programs through its nine colleges: arts, humanities & social sciences; business; education; engineering; honors; nursing; professional & continuing studies; science; and graduate. Nursing is UAH's largest single major, although Engineering is the largest college. There is also an Honors College that offers an enriched academic and community experience for undergraduates in all disciplines. Not surprisingly given Huntsville's technology-based economy, UAH is known for engineering and science programs, including astrophysics, atmospheric science, aerospace engineering, cybersecurity, and digital animation. The first "commercial" non-rocketry programs (Consort and Joust) in the U.S. were managed by UAH scientists, the first "high-temperature" superconductor was discovered at UAH, and the first U.S. experiment flown aboard the Soviet Mir Space Station was from UAH. UAH is a Space Grant university and has a history of cooperation with NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal. In conjunction with helping NASA reach its goals, UAH makes NASA's research and technology available to all