Business Haas professor Janet Yellen, who has been serving as a governor on the Federal Reserve Board, has been appointed chair of the President's Council of Economic Advisors. Professor Laura Tyson returned from her Washington post as Clinton's top economic advisor to resume her joint appointment at the Haas School of Business and the Department of Economics. The search for a new Haas dean is under way, led by David Hodges, former dean of the College of Engineering.

Chemistry The college recently celebrated its 125th anniversary and dedication of its new state-of-the-art building, Tan Kah Kee Hall. Alumnus Robert Curl won the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with two others for his discovery of "buckyball" molecules. Chemical Engineering professor Arup Chakraborty took home the Colburn Award for scientists under age 36.

Education has been awarded a $1 million, five-year research training grant from the Spencer Foundation to support doctoral students. The grant is one of nine awarded to major graduate schools of education to help strengthen the quality of educational research and bring more outstanding researchers into the field.

Engineering Intel Corp. - one of the college's most significant corporate supporters - has given 225 desktop computers and several powerful servers valued at more than $1.9 million and $1.1 million in recycled chip-making equipment to the college to upgrade laboratories and classrooms in electrical engineering and computer sciences.

Environmental Design As of July 1, the Department of Landscape Architecture will have a new name better reflecting its teaching and research interests: the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning. Architecture chair Donlyn Lyndon has received the Topaz Medallion - the top national award in architecture education.

Information Management and Systems is accepting applications to its Masters and Ph.D. programs for Fall 1997. The mission of this new school is to train professionals to manage all aspects of an information transaction by selecting, evaluating, describing, storing, retrieving, manipulating and presenting relevant information. Check out the school's Web site: www.sims.berkeley.edu

Journalism Political commentator Molly Ivins taught a course in opinion writing this semester while continuing to file her syndicated column from the school. A special class about the reversion of Hong Kong to Chinese control was followed by a field trip to Hong Kong.

Law In the 1997 U.S. News and World Report rankings of the best graduate schools, Boalt Hall was rated ninth best law school in the country. For law specialties, Boalt ranked fourth for environmental law, sixth for intellectual property, and eighth for international law.

Letters and Science Richard '41 and the late Rhoda Haas Goldman '46 have presented L&S with five $1 million distinguished professorships, one for each of the teaching divisions of the college: biological sciences, humanities, physical sciences, social sciences, and undergraduate and interdisciplinary studies. The five should be named this spring.

Natural Resources Restructured and revitalized, the college is recruiting approximately 20 faculty members over a five-year period in the areas of environment, agriculture, natural resources and safety.

Optometry Dean Anthony Adams has been appointed by Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala to the National Advisory Eye Council of the National Institutes of Health. The 12 council members advise the administration on research, training and facilities development.

Public Health A presentation on "Bugs, The Environment, and Public Health: What's New On The Horizon?" was co-sponsored by the School of Public Health as part of the recent California Council of Local Health Officers Conference held in Berkeley. Presentations by school alumni and faculty also covered environmental issues in minority communities, environmental litigation, and the emerging infections of Cryptosporidiosis and Meningococcus.

Public Policy Dean Eugene Smolensky is stepping down after nine years to focus on teaching and research; a national search for his replacement is almost complete. This summer the school makes a temporary move to Wheeler Hall while its historic building is seismically strengthened and renovated.

Social Welfare Professor Jewelle Taylor Gibbs' new book, "Race and Justice: Rodney King and O.J. Simpson in a House Divided," argues that verdicts in both cases are based on the relationships that whites and blacks have with the police. According to Gibbs, "Blacks and whites inhabit different worlds and have vastly different experiences with the police and the criminal justice system."