Laura Tyson to resign

Laura Tyson

16 August 2001 | Laura Tyson, dean of the Haas School of Business, has announced plans to resign from her administrative duties on Dec. 31, 2001. A long-time professor of economics on campus, she has accepted a position as dean of the London Business School in England.

Tyson, 54, was appointed dean of the Haas School in July 1998. She is the only woman currently leading a major business school in the United States.

“Laura Tyson has shown wonderful leadership as dean of the Haas School,” said Chancellor Berdahl. “She has led the school to new levels of prominence and fostered an innovative learning environment that will continue to greatly benefit today’s business students. We wish her the best in her new position and I am delighted that she sees a return to Berkeley in her future plans.”

Professor Benjamin Hermalin, who has served as associate dean for academic affairs and chair of the faculty at the Haas School since 1999, has been appointed interim dean. Hermalin, 39, is the Willis H. Booth Professor of Banking and Finance and has been with the Haas School since 1988. He has a joint appointment with the Department of Economics and is a co-founder and director of the private online academic publishing company Bepress.

The campus will undertake a national search for the permanent deanship, the chancellor said.

Tyson will be on leave from her faculty position and said she plans to return to the campus at some point in the future. She has been a professor at the Haas School since 1990 and at the campus since 1977.