July 14, 2025

Dear Members of Our Campus Community,

It is my pleasure to announce the appointment of Professor Shelly Gable as our next Dean of the Division of Mathematical, Life, and Physical Sciences, and the Susan and Bruce Worster Dean of Science, effective July 14, 2025.

We are grateful to our search advisory committee, led by co-chairs Alison Butler and David Weld, for conducting a rigorous national search for this important position. The members of the committee are listed below. We would also like to thank our Executive Vice Chancellor, Academic Senate Chair, vice chancellors, deans, faculty and staff colleagues, and many members of our campus community who provided important consultation, input, and advice throughout the search process.

Professor Gable has held the position of Interim Dean of Mathematical, Life, and Physical Sciences since September of last year, providing timely leadership and insight in challenging times. She previously served as the chair of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences between 2021 and 2024, and as vice chair between 2012 and 2017. As chair, she oversaw the recruitment of seven new faculty in three years, and supported an average annual $5.5 million in new sponsored research awards in the department.

Professor Gable, who joined our faculty in 2007, has a distinguished record of teaching, research, and university service. She began her career as an assistant professor at UCLA, where she earned tenure and co-founded the Interdisciplinary Relationship Science Program, supported by an NSF IGERT training grant. Her research focuses on motivation, close relationships, emotion regulation, and positive emotions; her work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Templeton Foundation, and she has authored over 100 publications. As part of her sustained commitment to teaching and research, Professor Gable has chaired and co-chaired 17 Ph.D. students, supervised five postdoctoral students, and received teaching awards.

Professor Gable is a recipient of the prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the National Science Foundation. She has also received the Early Career Award from the Close Relationships Group of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and the Berscheid-Hatfield Mid-Career Achievement Award from the International Association for Relationship Research. She is a fellow of the International Positive Psychology Association, the International Association for Relationship Research, the Association for Psychological Science, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

We are grateful to Professor Gable for her exceptional work as Interim Dean. Please join us in extending our warmest congratulations to Shelly as she takes on this important new leadership role.

Sincerely,

Henry T. Yang
Chancellor

Dean of Mathematical, Life, and Physical Sciences Search Advisory Committee
Alison Butler, Co-Chair; Distinguished Professor and Chair, Chemistry and Biochemistry
David Weld, Co-Chair; Professor, Physics
Daniel Conroy-Beam, Professor, Psychological and Brain Sciences
Pieter Derksen, GSA representative; Graduate Student Researcher, Physics
Stu Feinstein, Professor, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
Heather Gardner, Staff representative; MSO, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Gretchen Hofmann, Professor, Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology
Arturo Keller, Distinguished Professor, Bren School of Environmental Science & Management
Michael Ludkovski, Professor, Statistics and Applied Probability
Umesh Mishra, Dean of the College of Engineering; Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Trisalyn Nelson, Professor and Chair, Geography
Susannah Porter, Professor, Earth Science
Simone Pulver, Associate Professor and Chair, Environmental Studies
Guofang Wei, Professor, Mathematics
Associated Students representative

Consultant to the committee:
June Betancourt, Director of Policy Compliance, Academic Affairs