NEWS RELEASE, 05/15/98 Laura D'Andrea Tyson named new dean of UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business

By Public Affairs staff

BERKELEY -- Laura D'Andrea Tyson, former chief economic advisor to President Bill Clinton, will be the new dean of the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl announced today (Friday, May 15). Tyson will be the only woman serving as dean of a major business school in the United States. She also will be the first endowed dean on the UC Berkeley campus, holding the title of BankAmerica Dean in honor of the bank's recent $2 million gift to the Haas School. Tyson will succeed William A. Hasler, who will step down on June 30 after seven years as dean of the highly regarded undergraduate and graduate school to return to private industry. "I am very excited about the transition to Laura Tyson," said Hasler. "Her visibility and stature will help the Haas School continue its recent progress and move into the very top ranks of business schools." Berdahl also announced today the appointment of Edward Penhoet, former president and CEO of Chiron Corp., as the new dean of UC Berkeley's School of Public Health. In their new leadership roles, which begin July 1, Berdahl said the two distinguished deans will build UC Berkeley's academic program and enhance its national and international recognition. "Professor Tyson's record of achievement is exceptional," said Berdahl. "She has always been a valued and dedicated member of the university community, and it is enormously gratifying to have her as dean of our business school." An economist who has long been interested in the "real world" economic problems that confront the nation and its international trading partners, Tyson said she is excited by the opportunity to help shape the education of future business leaders. "By dint of its location, its fine new facilities, the international composition of its student body, and its association with Berkeley's outstanding professional and graduate programs, the Haas School of Business is ideally situated to be a leader in innovative business education," said Tyson. "As dean," she said, "I will work to strengthen the Haas School's involvement and leadership in the development of business education most suited to the new challenges posed by increasing globalization and technological change." The Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Carol Christ praised Tyson's appointment, saying that Tyson is "a nationally recognized scholar in international business and in technology policy, key themes in the future of the Haas School of Business." "She has a remarkable record of public service," added Christ, "having served as National Economic Advisor to the President of the United States and Chairman of the National Economic Council. We are extremely fortunate that she will devote her considerable abilities to the deanship." Tyson joined the UC Berkeley faculty in 1977 and currently holds the Class of 1939 Chair in Economics and Business Administration. She is the recipient of the prestigious, campuswide Distinguished Teaching Award, presented to only a small number of teachers each year. She took leave from UC Berkeley in 1993 when President Clinton appointed her chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisors. She was the first woman to hold that post. In 1995, Clinton asked Tyson to succeed Robert Rubin as National Economic Advisor. In accepting that position, Tyson became the highest-ranking woman in the Clinton White House. She returned to UC Berkeley in 1997. Tyson was a key architect of Clinton's domestic and international policy agenda during his first term in office. As the Clinton Administration's top economic advisor, she managed all economic policy-making throughout the executive branch, serving as head of the National Economic Council, which is the coordinating group made up of the President, the Vice President and members of the Cabinet. Tyson also served as a member of the President's National Security Council and Domestic Policy Council. An international authority on U.S. economic competitiveness, trade policy and U.S.-Japan economic relations, Tyson is the author of "Who's Bashing Whom? Trade Conflicts in High-Technology Industries" (Institute for International Economics, 1992) and numerous other works on economic competitiveness. She currently is an economic viewpoint columnist for Business Week and a regular commentator for the Nightly Business Report. Tyson recently was named one of four White House appointees to the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare. She is a principal of the Law & Economics Consulting Group and a member of the boards of directors of Ameritech Corporation, the Council on Foreign Relations, Eastman Kodak Company, the Institute for International Economics, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. She serves on the Trilateral Commission, on the boards of trustees of the Asia Foundation and Smith College, and on the advisory boards of E.M. Warburg, Pincus & Co., LLP, the G7 Group, Inc., and Shorenstein Company, L.P. Tyson also is on the editorial boards of The American Prospect, California Management Review and the Journal of Economic Perspectives. Before her appointments in Washington, Tyson served at UC Berkeley as research director of the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy (BRIE) and as director of the Institute of International Studies. She also was a member of the Cuomo Commission on Trade and Competitiveness, the Advisory Board of the Economic Strategy Institute, the Conference Board Economic Colloquium, the Economic Policy Institute Research Council, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Subcommittee on a Global Economic Strategy for the United States. Tyson received her BA in economics, summa cum laude, in 1969 from Smith College in Massachusetts and her PhD in economics in 1974 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Before joining the UC Berkeley faculty, she was an assistant professor of economics at Princeton University from 1974 to 1977.