Dear Campus Community,
Today we are very pleased to announce that, after a thorough and competitive UC systemwide search, Oliver O’Reilly has been selected to serve as our next vice provost for undergraduate education. Oliver is currently serving as the interim vice provost for undergraduate education; he will transition into the role permanently on July 1, 2022.
A member of the Berkeley faculty since 1992, Oliver has been an engaged and influential member of our community for decades. As the vice provost for undergraduate education, Oliver will be responsible for supporting teaching, learning, and undergraduate discovery at Berkeley, as well as implementing campus strategy around the undergraduate student experience. This crucial role engages the campus on vital academic initiatives that enrich the undergraduate experience at Berkeley. Oliver has shown that he will lead the division with passion, dedication, and acumen.
Oliver epitomizes the qualities we prize in leaders at Berkeley. He is collaborative, compassionate, and capable. Over many years, he has shown a deep commitment to student welfare and equity of experience, and access to educational opportunities. His dedication to working directly with students is unparalleled. We have every confidence that he will continue to use these traits to improve the undergraduate student experience and our campus community more broadly.
In addition to his current role as interim vice provost, Oliver is a distinguished professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Over his thirty years at Berkeley, he has served as the associate dean for graduate education in the Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society, chair of the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate, chair of the Academic Senate’s Committee on Teaching, chair of the Academic Senate’s Advisory Committee on Student Information Systems, and co-chair of the Joint Administration—Senate Task Force on the First Year Undergraduate Academic Experience. He has provided support and encouragement to students, staff, and fellow faculty to create an inclusive and supportive environment. In 2021, Oliver was awarded the Berkeley Faculty Service Award for his dedicated service to the campus community.
Oliver received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the National University of Ireland, Galway, and his master’s and doctoral degrees in theoretical and applied mechanics from Cornell University. He has published more than 100 archival journal articles, written three textbooks, co-authored a recent book on discrete elastic rods, and is a co-inventor on two patents. Oliver has received several teaching awards, including UC Berkeley’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 1999, the Pi Tau Sigma Professor of the Year Award in 2003, and the Tau Beta Pi Outstanding Faculty of the Year Award in 2013.
You can read more about Oliver on Berkeley News
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the search committee for their efforts during the search process. Please join us in congratulating Oliver on this hard-earned and merited appointment, and in supporting him in continuing to serve our undergraduate community.
Sincerely,
Carol T. ChristChancellor
Catherine P. Koshland
Interim Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost
Benjamin E. Hermalin
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Designate
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