FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, Aug. 9, 2001
Mary Spletter (510) 987-9004
mary.spletter@ucop.edu

Lawrence Coleman named UC vice provost for research

Lawrence B. Coleman, a UC Davis physicist and former chair of the systemwide Academic Council, has been named vice provost for research at the University of California Office of the President, effective immediately.

"Dr. Coleman brings a wide range of scientific and leadership excellence to a position that requires great vision and experience," said C. Judson King, UC provost and senior vice president of academic affairs.

Coleman, 53, has served as interim vice provost for research since Jan. 1.

"It is unusual to find an individual with proven strengths in so many challenging areas of higher education," said King.

Coleman's primary responsibilities will be to provide coordination on research matters among the Office of the President, the 10 UC campuses and the three national laboratories that UC manages for the federal Department of Energy; to develop university positions on major policy issues related to research; and to provide leadership in identifying and developing strategic responses to major research opportunities and initiatives.

"Research at the University of California impacts the lives of countless individuals as well as the economy of the state and the nation," Coleman said. "I am very excited about serving the University of California and the state in this position."

Coleman has spent much of his academic career at UC Davis where he advanced through its physics department to full professor in 1991. He has been acting associate vice chancellor for academic programs (1990-1991) and acting vice provost of academic programs and dean of undergraduate studies (1991-1992).

Coleman's research focuses on the use of infrared and far infrared spectroscopy to investigate the effects of disorder on the properties of solids. He also has been very involved with undergraduate students, teaching courses in solid state physics, thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. He received a distinguished teaching award at UC Davis for his work with undergraduates in 1987.

For the past three years, Coleman has served UC at the systemwide level, serving as faculty representative to the Board of Regents, chair of the UC Academic Council and Assembly and then as interim vice provost for research.

He has been involved in several academic affairs initiatives, including the creation of a UC Center for Teaching and Learning Technology, the facilitation of intersegmental transfer, the updating of policies on conflict of interest and conflict of commitment, and the introduction of UCTV. He also is a member of the President's Council on the National Laboratories.

Coleman earned his bachelor's degree in physics from Johns Hopkins University in 1970 and doctorate in physics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1975.

Coleman replaces Robert Shelton, who took a position as executive vice chancellor and provost at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

As vice provost for research, Coleman will receive an annual salary of $194,000.