Business Haas professor Janet Yellen, who has been serving as a governor
on the Federal Reserve Board, has been appointed chair of the President's
Council of Economic Advisors. Professor Laura Tyson returned from her Washington
post as Clinton's top economic advisor to resume her joint appointment at
the Haas School of Business and the Department of Economics. The search
for a new Haas dean is under way, led by David Hodges, former dean of the
College of Engineering.
Chemistry The college recently celebrated its 125th anniversary and
dedication of its new state-of-the-art building, Tan Kah Kee Hall. Alumnus
Robert Curl won the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with two others for his
discovery of "buckyball" molecules. Chemical Engineering professor
Arup Chakraborty took home the Colburn Award for scientists under age 36.
Education has been awarded a $1 million, five-year research training
grant from the Spencer Foundation to support doctoral students. The grant
is one of nine awarded to major graduate schools of education to help strengthen
the quality of educational research and bring more outstanding researchers
into the field.
Engineering Intel Corp. - one of the
college's most significant corporate supporters - has given 225 desktop
computers and several powerful servers valued at more than $1.9 million
and $1.1 million in recycled chip-making equipment to the college to upgrade
laboratories and classrooms in electrical engineering and computer sciences.
Environmental Design As of July 1,
the Department of Landscape Architecture will have a new name better reflecting
its teaching and research interests: the Department of Landscape Architecture
and Environmental Planning. Architecture chair Donlyn Lyndon has received
the Topaz Medallion - the top national award in architecture education.
Information Management and Systems
is accepting applications to its Masters and Ph.D. programs for Fall 1997.
The mission of this new school is to train professionals to manage all aspects
of an information transaction by selecting, evaluating, describing, storing,
retrieving, manipulating and presenting relevant information. Check out
the school's Web site: www.sims.berkeley.edu
Journalism Political commentator Molly
Ivins taught a course in opinion writing this semester while continuing
to file her syndicated column from the school. A special class about the
reversion of Hong Kong to Chinese control was followed by a field trip to
Hong Kong.
Law In the 1997 U.S. News and World
Report rankings of the best graduate schools, Boalt Hall was rated ninth
best law school in the country. For law specialties, Boalt ranked fourth
for environmental law, sixth for intellectual property, and eighth for international
law.
Letters and Science Richard '41 and
the late Rhoda Haas Goldman '46 have presented L&S with five $1 million
distinguished professorships, one for each of the teaching divisions of
the college: biological sciences, humanities, physical sciences, social
sciences, and undergraduate and interdisciplinary studies. The five should
be named this spring.
Natural Resources Restructured and
revitalized, the college is recruiting approximately 20 faculty members
over a five-year period in the areas of environment, agriculture, natural
resources and safety.
Optometry Dean Anthony Adams has been
appointed by Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala to the National
Advisory Eye Council of the National Institutes of Health. The 12 council
members advise the administration on research, training and facilities development.
Public Health A presentation on "Bugs,
The Environment, and Public Health: What's New On The Horizon?" was
co-sponsored by the School of Public Health as part of the recent California
Council of Local Health Officers Conference held in Berkeley. Presentations
by school alumni and faculty also covered environmental issues in minority
communities, environmental litigation, and the emerging infections of Cryptosporidiosis
and Meningococcus.
Public Policy Dean Eugene Smolensky
is stepping down after nine years to focus on teaching and research; a national
search for his replacement is almost complete. This summer the school makes
a temporary move to Wheeler Hall while its historic building is seismically
strengthened and renovated.
Social Welfare Professor Jewelle Taylor
Gibbs' new book, "Race and Justice: Rodney King and O.J. Simpson in
a House Divided," argues that verdicts in both cases are based on the
relationships that whites and blacks have with the police. According to
Gibbs, "Blacks and whites inhabit different worlds and have vastly
different experiences with the police and the criminal justice system."