This quarter, UCSD will face various changes in faculty across different departments and affiliated institutions. These incoming and outgoing faculty shifts will include a new provost for Muir College, the first-ever Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, a search for the new Director of Scripps Institute of Oceanography and a new Dean of the Jacobs School of Engineering.
According to Muir Provost Search Committee Chair Dr. Barbara Sawrey, Muir College’s newest provost will be announced during the middle of this quarter. Susan Smith, the current Provost, announced her intentions to retire at the end of the 2012 calendar year, after heading the position since 2005. After retirement from her post as provost and as faculty within the department of Visual Arts, Smith plans to spend time in Northern California, completing a book on women in medieval art and beginning a project on 19th century popular photography.
The Muir Provost Search Committee is comprised of Dr. Sawrey, Muir College Dean of Student Affairs Patricia Mahaffey, Warren College Provost Steven Adler, several other professors, an alumni representative and student representatives Elizabeth Garcia and Kit Wong. The committee is currently in the process of conducting interviews with over 30 applicants for the position.
“The staff and students…would love a Provost who embodies the theme of celebrating the independent spirit and is committed to preserving the things that make Muir College so special,” Garcia, who was not at liberty to discuss the committee proceedings thus far.
Beginning Jan. 1, Dr. Linda S. Greene of the University of Wisconsin-Madison will begin her position as UCSD’s first ever Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Dr. Greene was chosen for the position in September 2012 after a nationwide search by the UC Board of Regents and comes to UCSD after completing her affairs as Evjue-Bascom Professor of Law at UW-Madison. As VC-EDI, Greene will work with Chancellor Pradeep Khosla, Executive Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Suresh Subramani and various departments and UCSD Programs to promote equal opportunities and inclusiveness and introduce associated strategic initiatives.
Dr. Greene, who had been preparing for her position as VC-EDI after the winter break, was not available for comment by press time.
After six years as Vice Chancellor for Marine Sciences and Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), Dr. Tony Haymet retired from his administrative positions on Jan. 1, 2013. He will remain a Distinguished Professor of UCSD as well as Vice Chancellor-Marine Sciences, Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Dean of the Graduate Program in Marine Sciences, Emeritus. Professor Catherine Constable of the Scripps Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics will be serving as Acting Vice Chancellor for Marine Sciences, Director of SIO, and Dean of the Graduate School of Marine Sciences from Oct. 1, 2012 to July 1, 2013. According to Dr. Constable, Chancellor Khosla has already made several recommendations, and a search committee for the next Vice Chancellor and SIO Director is currently being constructed.
As Vice Chancellor, Dr. Haymet focused on improving the Scripps budget, assembled a five-point plan of people, infrastructure, vessels, outreach and teaching and recruited over 44 very talented faculty members. Haymet established the first institutional postdoctoral program at Scripps, as well as a Marine Biology undergraduate major during Fall 2012, and also co-founded CleanTech San Diego in 2007, a non-profit organization advocating clean technologies and sustainable industry practices.
“We had a good six years with Dr. Haymet,” Dr. Constable said. “And I am looking forward to the results of the international search for his successor”.
Dr. Frieder Seible, Dean of the Jacobs School of Engineering for two terms, and 30-year faculty member of UCSD, will be retiring from UCSD in April 2013.
Dr. Seible will remain an emeritus faculty and collaborator at UCSD, but will be the Dean of Faculty of Engineering and University Academic Vice-President of Monash University. Dr. Juan C. Lasheras, Stanford and Beverly Penner Professor of Applied Sciences at the Jacobs School, has been appointed Acting Dean since Dean Seible’s Fall quarter sabbatical and will remain so until the selection of a permanent Dean.
Dr. Seible, Dean of the Jacobs School since 2003, is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, chairman of the California Department of Transportation Seismic Advisory Board, and serves as a structural engineering consultant with over 600 papers and reports to his name, among many other accomplishments.
As Dean he was instrumental in the construction of the Structural and Materials Engineering building, the founding of the departments of Structural Engineering and NanoEngineering, the Institute of Engineering in Medicine and various student programs.
An international search for Dean Seible’s successor will begin this month after the creation of the search committee and recruitment search firm. Dr. Lasheras was unavailable for comment by press time.
