dean's desk
Undergraduate enrollment grows as new programs expand
by Charles B. Harris, Dean
and Gilbert Newton
Lewis Professor
This year — my first as dean of the college — has been a busy and rewarding one. I’ve had the opportunity to oversee many exciting projects, and I am very optimistic about where the college is headed in the coming years.
Undergraduates continue to seek out our programs in record numbers. Over the past six years, the number of undergraduate majors in the college has increased dramatically — from a total of 574 in 2000-01 to an estimated 763 this year. This rapid increase is due almost entirely to the introduction of our very popular chemical biology major. This spring, for the first time ever, we have more students majoring in chemical biology than in either chemistry or chemical engineering. The program is a great interdisciplinary success story, and it clearly serves an important role in helping our students to pursue their intellectual and career goals.
“Undergraduates continue to seek out our programs in record numbers.”
Another ambitious interdisciplinary program — in materials chemistry — is gradually taking shape and will, I hope, prove to be as successful as chemical biology. We are working to develop a B.S. degree program in materials chemistry within the Department of Chemistry. The application of basic chemical principles to problems in materials discovery, design, and characterization has become a major area of research within the discipline of chemistry, and our proposed major would fulfill a need within industry and academia for students with such training. Beginning in spring of 2007, we will offer our first new undergraduate course as part of this curriculum, entitled “Introduction to Materials Chemistry.” The course will cover such topics as synthetic methods, mechanical and thermal properties, surfaces and heterogeneous catalysis, and nanoscale and biological materials. The emphasis throughout will be on an atomic-level description of what gives rise to important materials characteristics.
Nationally, there are few existing programs in materials chemistry, and Berkeley has an opportunity to lead the way in producing the individuals best qualified for careers in this field. The program will involve close collaboration with our Department of Chemical Engineering and with the College of Engineering’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering. These departments offer complementary degrees, although they are focused more on the macroscopic-level properties of materials and the engineering aspects of utilizing materials rather than on the fundamental atomic-level interactions within materials, which will be the focus of our new program.
With innovative interdisciplinary programs to entice them, our new students require a full set of modern teaching laboratories. We currently lack sufficient space to accommodate all qualified undergraduates who are interested in taking our lab courses — a situation that limits the number of students we can accept into the college, and that forces some Berkeley undergrads to complete their lab requirements at other schools. Our shortage of lab space is a pressing problem that I am working hard to remedy, both administratively and through fundraising. In addition, I hope to oversee the renovation of our freshman chemistry and sophomore organic labs during my tenure as dean.
Though undergraduate lab space is in short supply, we are about to receive a much-needed increase in space for faculty/graduate student labs and offices. The construction of the new Stanley Hall will be complete this fall, and a number of our research groups will relocate there to join the California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research (QB3), a cooperative effort among three UC campuses (Berkeley, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco). QB3 is an ambitious interdisciplinary effort that brings together faculty in the sciences and engineering who address biological problems. The new Stanley Hall features an innovative architectural design aimed at encouraging interaction across research groups. With some of our faculty crossing the street to occupy that space, the college will have room to hire four or five new faculty members over the next five years.
Dean Charles B. Harris presides over the annual staff appreciation day on May 17. Harris acknowledged several staff members for their service to the college
A very busy season of recruiting for several of those faculty positions is coming to a close. With the impending retirement of Professor Jack Kirsch this summer, the chemistry department hopes to fill a joint position with the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology. Chemical engineering has just made a junior appointment in computational biology and is hoping to make a senior appointment to our Hubbard Howe, Jr. Distinguished Professorship in biochemical engineering. I’ve met with many exceptional candidates over the past few months, and I look forward to introducing some new faculty members to you in my next column.
I’d also like to tell you about some changes in our staff. I am pleased to introduce two new staff members who play key roles in keeping us in touch with our alumni, other supporters, and the general public. Director of Development Mindy Rex and Principal Editor Michael Barnes recently joined our College Relations team, which is headed by Assistant Dean Jane Scheiber. Mindy comes to us from Berkeley’s Graduate Division, where she was a major gifts officer; she previously worked for the Leukemia Society and for the cancer centers at UCSF and Ohio State University. Michael joins us from UC’s Office of the President, where he was a science writer for many years. As you can see from some of the photos in this issue of the NewsJournal, he is also an experienced photographer. In addition, I regretfully announce the retirement of undergraduate student affairs officer Gloria Frank, who, after 12 years as an adviser in the college, will leave us at the end of June. I’m sure many of you remember Gloria — she has been a helpful and generous adviser to hundreds of students over the years and a mainstay of the Scholars Program, and she will be greatly missed.
Dean
Harris thanked Sandy Rehling, Director of
Undergraduate Advising and Transfer Adviser
(left), who has worked at the college for
30 years. Harris also thanked Gloria Frank,
Undergraduate Adviser and Retention Coordinator
(right) who is retiring after 12 years with
the college and 30 years with the university.
Our Commencement on Saturday, May 20th, featured speaker Steve Chu, Nobel laureate in physics and current director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. This event marks the end of the school year, but we are already looking forward to the fall. On Monday, Sep tember 11, in con junction with the American Chemical Society’s national meeting in San Francisco, the college and its departments will host a reception for alumni and friends from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the San Francisco City Club. And on Saturday, October 7, we will host a homecoming event featuring Professor Christopher Chang. Please see the back cover of this publication for more information.
As my first year leading the college comes to a close, I am grateful to the many faculty and staff members who have assisted and supported me, and to all the alumni and friends whose involvement in the college is so crucial to its vibrancy and success. I look forward to our continued work together.