UCSB Vice Chancellor for Research Named Director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

The UC Board of Regents appointed vice chancellor for research Michael Witherell as director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. After serving as UCSB’s vice chancellor for over a decade, Witherell assumed his new post at Berkeley in March.

A leading physicist with a long career as an educator, researcher and community leader, Witherell also served as a UC Presidential Chair at the UCSB Department of Physics. He was a member of the faculty in the department from 1981 to 1999, before moving on to serve as director of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois.

Witherell received a number of prestigious honors and awards in recognition of his achievements, including the Guggenheim Fellowship and the American Physical Society’s W.K.H. Panofsky Prize in Experimental Particle Physics. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society.

Source: THE CURRENT.

UC Santa Barbara Tops PayScale’s 2015-2016 College Salary Report for Computer Science Majors

In PayScale’s most recent ranking of schools by salary potential for selected majors, UC Santa Barbara topped the list for early-career and mid-career salaries earned by graduates who earned a degree in computer science. Early-career salaries averaged $71, 700 per year, with mid-career annual pay at $147,000. Also on the list for the highest earning computer science majors are Columbia University, UC Berkeley and the University of Delaware.
Source: PAYSCALE

Dean of Social Sciences Melvin L. Oliver Takes on New Role as President of Pitzer College

SAGE Sara Miller McCune Dean of Social Sciences and Executive Dean of the College of Letters and Science Melvin L. Oliver has accepted the offer to be the next president of Pitzer College in Claremont, California. Oliver will assume his new role at Pitzer on July 1.

Oliver oversaw the introduction of three new interdisciplinary Ph.D. programs – Chicano/Chicana Studies, Feminist Studies and Global Studies —during his tenure at UC Santa Barbara. He also served as Co-PI of the McNair Program and raised funds to establish the Leonard and Gretchen Broom Center for Social Demography. Oliver also introduced the M.A. program in Global Civil Society in Global Studies, as well as the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies. A highly-respected professor of sociology, Oliver is an elected member of the Sociological Research Association and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Source: The Office of the Chancellor