skip to main content
Student Affairs  /  Campus Announcements  /  Dean of Graduate Studies

Dean of Graduate Studies

September 17, 2020

To: The Caltech Community
From: Kevin M. Gilmartin, Vice President for Student Affairs, and David A. Tirrell, Provost
Date: September 17, 2020
Re: Dean of Graduate Studies

We are pleased to announce that David Chan, professor of biology, will become Dean of Graduate Studies, effective October 1, 2020. He will take over from the current dean, Doug Rees, Caltech's Roscoe Gilkey Dickinson Professor of Chemistry and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, who will be stepping down after more than five years in the job.

David has been deeply committed to graduate education, including overseeing the Caltech-UCLA Medical Scientist Training Program, and was recently elected Vice Chair of the Faculty. He is the first member of the biology and biological engineering faculty to serve as dean since this position was created in 1935, when Richard Tolman was appointed Dean of the Graduate School.

We are very grateful to Doug Rees for his efforts to improve the graduate student experience since his appointment in 2015. Students, faculty, and staff have benefitted from his careful concern.

At this time, we would also like to thank the search committee, chaired by Professor Antonio Rangel, Bing Professor of Neuroscience, Behavioral Biology, and Economics, for all their efforts in seeking out a new dean.