William E. Mahoney Annual Lecture in Chemistry
Chancellor Marye Anne Fox from the University of California San Diego presents a lecture on "The Troubled Future of American Public Higher Education" for the William E. Mahoney Lecture in Chemistry.
Marye Anne Fox, a nationally known chemist and academic leader, was named the seventh chancellor of the University of California, San Diego in April 2004 by the University of California Board of Regents. She also holds the title of distinguished professor of chemistry and has received honorary degrees from 12 institutions in the U.S. and abroad. Previously, Fox was chancellor and distinguished university professor of chemistry at North Carolina State University, a post she held since 1998. Before going to North Carolina, Fox spent 22 years at the University of Texas, where she advanced from assistant professor of organic chemistry to vice president for research and held the Waggoner Regents Chair in chemistry. She earned a bachelor's degree in science from Notre Dame College, a master's degree in science from Cleveland State University and a Ph.D. from Dartmouth College.
Chancellor Fox has held over 50 endowed lectureships at universities around the world. She also has served as visiting professor at Harvard University, the University of Iowa, the University of Chicago, the Universite Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris and the Chemistry Research Promotion Center in Taipei. She has been elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and to fellowships in both the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Fox has also received numerous research and teaching awards, such as the Garvan Award, the Southwest Regional Award, and the Charles Lathrop Parsons Award for 2005 from the American Chemical Society, and the Monie A. Ferst Award for the outstanding mentoring of graduate students. More than 40 students have received advanced degrees under her supervision, and over 100 postdoctoral fellows and sabbatical visitors have worked with her. She also serves on numerous boards including the Council on Competitiveness, Building Engineering and Science Talent (BEST), the Association of American Universities (AAU) and World Universities Network (WUN), the National Security – Higher Education Advisory Board, and several San Diego regional advisory boards.
In the seminar, "The Troubled Future of American Public Higher Education," Chancellor Fox will describe how the current financial crisis has profoundly affected public higher education, particularly the American research universities. This talk will explain, from a Chancellor's viewpoint, why state government has become an unreliable partner. It will present several federal and private sector partnership approaches that can take up the responsibilities that government is increasingly reluctant to address. And it will look at the influence on these questions that followed from the National Academies report, "Rising Above the Gathering Storm."
