Regents appoint new vice presidents

After a national search process, the University of California Board of Regents appointed two new UC vice presidents last Thursday.

Steven Beckwith was named vice president for research and graduate studies, and Daniel Dooley was appointed vice president for the UC’s agricultural and natural resources programs.

Both appointees will take their posts in January.

Beckwith, currently a professor of physics and astronomy at the Johns Hopkins Space Telescope Science Institute, will oversee graduate education planning, research initiatives and the university’s relationship with industry and both federal and state government.

The other post, the vice president of agriculture and natural resources, will be filled by Dooley, a senior partner at a California environmental law firm ““ Dooley, Herr and Peltzer, LLP ““ which specializes in agricultural, environmental, business and water rights.

Duties of Dooley’s position include applying research from UC agriculture programs at Berkeley, Davis and Riverside to California farming, said Pamela Kan-Rice, a UC spokeswoman.

“Research, development and delivery. It’s that whole continuum of doing the research on the campus and taking it out to the people who can use it. This vice president will oversee that whole process,” Kan-Rice added.

Steven Beckwith

The Regents formed the position of vice president for research and graduate studies, the position Beckwith will hold, in response to the recommendation of a committee reviewing efficiency within the UC Office of the President.

Beckwith’s position was created to provide leadership on a national level, work with industry and coordinate between university campuses and UC national laboratories.

The new post will consolidate leadership regarding graduate programs.

“Up until now, graduate study was distributed among a variety of offices of the president,” said UC spokesman Paul Schwartz.

“One of the ideas was to centralize and strengthen them under one vice president rather than have them fragmented and distributed across a variety of departments.”

A highlight from Beckwith’s resume is directing the Space Telescope Science Institute from 1998 to 2005, where he supervised and distributed funding for scientists researching with the Hubble Space Telescope.

Prior to his job at the Space Telescope Science Institute, Beckwith was the managing director of the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie in Germany and a professor in Cornell University’s astronomy department.

Daniel Dooley

The agriculture and natural resources division, which Dooley will oversee, often makes recommendations to California farmers about how to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture.

“It involves looking at the footprint of the agriculture production systems on the landscape and how you can manage that footprint in a way that creates long-term sustainability,” Dooley said, with regard to the work done at agriculture and natural resources offices and the three UC campuses with agriculture programs.

For example, UC scientists designed irrigation methods that increased productivity while also conserving water, according to a statement from the UC Office of the President.

Dooley has considerable experience with California agriculture and the UC.

Some of his previous work includes serving as vice chair of an advisory board for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, chief deputy director of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, chair of the California Water Commission, and chair for the UC President’s Advisory Commission on Agriculture and Natural Resources. Dooley said he believes his wide-ranging experience in the private sector and with the UC, makes him uniquely qualified.

“Coming out of the private sector, I bring a unique blend of private-sector experience with a history of engagement with the university. … It offers me the opportunity to help the university take a very fresh and perhaps different look at how it engages with the people it serves.”

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