fiona doyleHappy New Year! I hope that the new semester finds you energized from the winter break, whether you spent it relaxing with family and friends, traveling, tearing down a ski slope, or doing something else that you love doing. Graduate school is a good time to build the work-life balance that will sustain you throughout your career.

I’m really excited to join the Graduate Division as your new Dean. Berkeley is, as you well know, renowned for its research and graduate education. Some of my colleagues have called Berkeley’s graduate programs its “crown jewels.”

Building on this image, I note that jewels only sparkle with the right light. In the same way, Berkeley’s graduate programs shine because of their students and alumni. My faculty colleagues frequently cite working with gifted graduate students as the most satisfying part of being a professor at Berkeley.

The Graduate Division is here to support you throughout your graduate studies, and I am honored to join its dedicated staff in this endeavor. I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize my two immediate predecessors, Dean Andrew Szeri and Interim Dean Rosemary Joyce, who have worked tirelessly on behalf of Berkeley’s graduate students. Please join me in thanking them.

Fiat Lux!

Fiona M. Doyle
Dean of the Graduate Division
Donald H. McLaughlin Professor of Mineral Engineering