Gilless Reappointed CNR Dean

May 30, 2013
J. Keith Gilless

J. Keith Gilless

J. Keith Gilless has been reappointed as the Dean of the College of Natural Resources, effective July 1, 2013, for a five-year period, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George Breslauer announced in an email today (May 30).

"Dear Colleagues,

It is my great pleasure to announce that Keith Gilless has accepted reappointment as the Dean of the College of Natural Resources (CNR), effective July 1, 2013, for a five-year period.

Dean Gilless’ accomplishments over the last five years have been many.

During his deanship, undergraduate enrollments in CNR have increased dramatically, and CNR launched a new “MBA-style” Master of Development Practice program with significant financial support from the MacArthur Foundation.

Gilless led CNR’s development team during the Campaign for Berkeley, in which CNR exceeded its $72M goal, establishing three Hewlett Chairs and two non-Hewlett Chairs as well as twenty-four new endowed funds for CNR undergraduate and graduate students.

Gilless also served the campus as the Faculty Sponsor for the Organizational Simplification Initiative of Berkeley’s Operational Excellence (OE) program, and was a co-sponsor for the Senior Management Training classes offered to ~150 campus staff as part of the OE High Performance Culture Initiative. Gilless’ extensive knowledge of the diversity of ways in which the campus organizes itself to provide support for its research, teaching, and outreach missions, acquired over several decades of service in the Academic Senate, make him particularly effective in his OE advisor and liaison roles.

In his own profession of forestry, Gilless has been an ambassador for the campus, having been appointed by the Governor, first as a member, and now as Chair, of the California State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, and at the national level, appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture as a member of the USDA Forestry Research Advisory Council.

Please join me in congratulating Keith Gilless on this reappointment.


George W. Breslauer
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost"