Dear colleagues,
I write to inform you that Doug Clark will be stepping down as dean of the College of Chemistry at the end of the coming academic year (i.e., June 30, 2024), after what will be eleven years of impressive and valuable service in that role.
Although search timelines often change, our plan is to post an ad for the dean position in early fall 2023, conduct interviews later that fall and/or in early spring, and announce the new dean in spring 2024, aiming for a July 1, 2024 start date.
During his tenure as dean, Doug has fostered and enhanced the college's longstanding excellence, while also continuing his own active research program. He has helped recruit and retain many world-class faculty from diverse backgrounds, helping the college maintain its top ranking. The college has celebrated numerous achievements, including four Nobel laureates since 2018. New positions created during his tenure as dean include the Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and the college’s Chief Diversity Officer, who helped develop a five-year DEIB Strategic Plan for the college. Two new self-supporting graduate professional degree programs have also been established.
Under Doug’s leadership, research support, revenue-generating activities, and philanthropic support all increased significantly. Partnering with industry and donors he helped create the Berkeley Catalyst Fund, strengthening the college’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and enabling emerging technologies to benefit the college and campus financially. He also oversaw the launch of California Research Alliance by BASF, a multidisciplinary research institute pairing BASF experts with researchers throughout the UC system. He expanded several outreach programs for high school students and external undergraduate students. A standout achievement in fundraising was gaining approval and securing funds for a new state-of-the-art laboratory building, Heathcock Hall, scheduled for groundbreaking in late 2023/early 2024.
Through the end of his term, Doug will continue to work on several key initiatives, including increasing the diversity of the faculty and graduate student population, fundraising for capital projects and enhanced instructional facilities, and establishing new revenue generation programs.
I would like to draw your attention to our dean searches FAQ, which, we hope, anticipates and answers many of your questions about the process. If you have other questions about the process, please feel free to reach out to Dana Jantz, our dean search coordinator, at jantz@berkeley.edu
Sincerely,
Benjamin E. Hermalin
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost