Executive Dean, College of Letters and Science

Dean, Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences

The dean of the Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences since 2002, Mark A. Richards was appointed executive dean for the College of Letters and Science in July of 2006. He is a professor of earth and planetary science and an expert on the interior dynamics of the Earth and terrestrial planets and the related phenomena of global plate motions and large-scale volcanism.

Richards earned his B.S. in engineering science from the University of Texas, Austin, in 1977 and his Ph.D. in geophysics from Caltech in 1986. He joined the University of Oregon faculty in 1987 and came to UC Berkeley in 1989. Here he served as chair of the Department of Geology & Geophysics (now Earth & Planetary Science), from 1997 until 1999.