July 13, 2006
UCLA Faculty and Staff
Dear Colleagues:
I am pleased to inform you that Timothy Stowell, chair of our Department of Linguistics and a member of the UCLA faculty for 25 years, has been named dean of the Division of Humanities. Professor Stowell's appointment was approved July 12 by the Board of Regents, and is effective immediately.
Professor Stowell is a distinguished faculty member and administrator in one of UCLA's finest departments. His research explores the relation between the structure of syntactic phrases and semantic interpretation.
Professor Stowell received his Ph.D. from MIT in 1981, and joined the UCLA Department of Linguistics that year. He was promoted to associate professor in 1988, and has served twice as department chair: from 1994–1998, and from 2004 to the present.
Professor Stowell has served in visiting professorships at 13 universities in the United States, Europe and Asia. He is the current co-editor of Syntax, and has been a long-time participant on the editorial boards of five other publications in his field.
As dean, Professor Stowell will oversee a large, complex and diverse academic division, with 17 departments, five interdepartmental programs, six research units, 239 faculty, 2,556 undergraduates, and 635 graduate students. The academic departments and programs in the Division of Humanities are consistently ranked among the best in their fields. Professor Stowell's superb scholarship and his dedicated leadership will be a valuable addition to the management of the College.
The choice of Professor Stowell as dean was made with extensive campus consultation. I am especially grateful to the Humanities chairs for their involvement in the selection process, and appreciate their guidance.
I want to thank Jonathan Post for his steadfast service as interim dean. Jonathan has twice served as interim dean, and we are grateful for his dedicated participation in the College's administration.
Sincerely,
Patricia O'Brien
Executive Dean
College of Letters and Science