July 7, 2005
TO THE CAMPUS COMMUNITY
Dear Colleagues:
A year ago today, I announced the appointment of Dr. Michael Witherell as our next vice chancellor for research, effective July 1, 2005. I am delighted to now warmly welcome Vice Chancellor Witherell and his wife, Elizabeth, to our campus community.
Dr. Witherell has served as the director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory for the past six years. Previously he was a professor of physics at UC Santa Barbara in the 1980s and early 1990s. We are very pleased that in addition to returning to our campus as vice chancellor, he has also returned to our Department of Physics, where he now holds a faculty appointment and a Presidential Endowed Chair.
Dr. Witherell received his B.S. degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has received numerous prestigious honors for his achievements and contributions, including election to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Physical Society's W. K. H. Panofsky Prize in Experimental Particle Physics. He is a former Guggenheim Fellow, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
I hope you will join me in welcoming Vice Chancellor Witherell to our campus. Please also join me in extending our heartfelt thanks to Professor Steven Gaines for his exemplary leadership and service as our acting vice chancellor for research during these past three years.
Sincerely,
Henry T. Yang
Chancellor