I'm very happy to take this opportunity to address you as dean, and I am honored to have the chance to lead the College of Chemistry in the years ahead. It is both humbling and invigorating to be entrusted with the responsibility of leading an institution as outstanding as this one. In particular, I look forward to getting to know the many alumni and friends who are involved in the college and whose generosity helps to support our work.

I am fortunate to follow in the steps of Clayton Heathcock, who did a wonderful job as dean of the college for the past six years. Clayton guided our community through budgetary challenges and extensive construction projects, all the while building upon our excellence in teaching and research. His are very big shoes to fill, but I'll do my best.

"...this spring, we will begin offering a new introductory course in materials chemistry, and we anticipate adding an advanced course next year."

I greatly enjoyed serving as chair of the chemistry department for the past two years and know that I have left things in very capable hands with Michael Marletta as the new chair. Michael is one of the faculty founders of our chemical biology program, and I am thrilled that he will dedicate his administrative talents to his department. I'm equally grateful to have Alex Bell as chair of chemical engineering. Alex is no stranger to this job, having served as department chair from 1981-1991 and as dean of the college from 1994-1999, and the department will greatly benefit from his extensive experience.

Recruiting efforts underway

Faculty recruiting will be a major priority of mine this year. Each of our departments is searching for two new faculty members: chemical engineering is looking for an assistant professor in computational biology as it is applied to chemical engineering problems, and for a senior candidate to fill our Howe Distinguished Professorship in bioengineering. Chemistry is looking to fill two junior positions—one in chemical biology and the other in materials chemistry. One of my challenges as dean will be to assemble the significant resources required to accommodate these new faculty members.

Materials chemistry progresses

The development of our materials chemistry program was a major priority of mine as chair, and will continue to be so for me as dean. I'm happy to report that things are proceeding well: this spring, we will begin offering a new introductory course in the subject, and we anticipate adding an advanced course next year. We have also completed a tentative course outline for an undergraduate degree program in materials chemistry.

"Graduate students conduct much of our research and, in addition, do some of our undergraduate teaching in labs and discussion sections. We must be able to offer generous funding packages to the most outstanding graduate applicants if we are to remain competitive with our peer institutions."

We are patterning our materials chemistry program on our very successful chemical biology program, which continues to draw many students and is largely responsible for the significant rise we've seen in our undergraduate enrollment. In fact, we are now unable to accommodate all the undergraduates who wish to take chemistry; this year, we had to turn away 250 students from our freshman chemistry and organic chemistry courses because of a shortage of spots in our lab sections. As dean, I will address this problem by looking into the possibility of creating additional lab sections, renovating space for new laboratories, or both. Despite these challenges, chemical biology has become a vibrant program with an exciting future at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Chemical biology is one example of the many opportunities for interdisciplinary research and teaching that exist at Berkeley. As dean, I will work to foster interdisciplinary work throughout the college. Graduate students are already engaged in extensive collaboration with researchers in other departments and at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. I will work to ensure that our undergraduates are also exposed to a rich variety of subjects and ideas, and that they are able to see the many ways in which chemistry and chemical engineering draw upon and contribute to other fields.

Funding priorities

In my short time as dean, I've learned how crucial fundraising is to the mission of the college. In addition to developing support for the sort of interdisciplinary work I describe above, I plan to focus my efforts on raising funds for three critical areas: graduate fellowships, endowed chairs for faculty, and lab renovations. Graduate students conduct much of our research and, in addition, do some of our undergraduate teaching in labs and discussion sections. We must be able to offer generous funding packages to the most outstanding graduate applicants if we are to remain competitive with our peer institutions. Similarly, we need additional endowed professorships if we are to continue to attract and retain the finest faculty members. Finally, creating efficient and up-to-date laboratories for faculty research and undergraduate education is a very costly prospect, and the University's resources for such renovations are very limited. We must therefore seek private funds if we are to create the physical environments that enable our researchers and students to thrive.

Raises for staff

As chair of the chemistry department, one of the things I found most gratifying was the opportunity to interact closely with administrative staff. I'm looking forward to continuing to do so as dean, and I am very appreciative of the work that our staff colleagues perform. As you know, the state of California and UC Berkeley have had several years of difficult budgetary times, which have translated into stagnant salaries for staff. I'm pleased to report that this year staff will receive a long-overdue cost-of-living increase of three percent. While this is less than I'd like, it's a start—and I hope that the state legislature and the University will proceed to act in ways that recognize the importance of staff.

I look forward to meeting many of you at our upcoming events, and I thank you for your continued involvement in the College of Chemistry. Your support and engagement are crucial to the important work that we do.