Schaeffer Named New Dean of Faculty of Science

I am delighted to announce that the Board of Governors has approved the appointment of Dr. Jonathan Schaeffer as Dean, Faculty of Science, for a five-year term of office effective July 1, 2012. Dr. Schaeffer is currently Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President (Information Technology). He has been a member of the University of Alberta for 28 years, becoming a full professor in 1994 and named Distinguished University Professor in 2008. He entered the administrative realm in 2005 by serving as Chair of Computing Science (until 2008).
 
Jonathan is a successful researcher in the area of artificial intelligence and is well known for having founded and led the GAMES research group at the U of A, a group internationally recognized in its field. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the iCORE Chair for High-Performance Artificial Intelligence Systems, and a former CRC, his Science paper, “Checkers is Solved” was a runner-up of Science’s “Breakthroughs of the Year” for 2007, was named by Nature’s readers as the 9th Most Important Achievement of the Year, and was one of the New York Times’ “Ideas of the Year.” He has had many successes including creating Chinook, the first computer to win a human world championship in any game (checkers), Phoenix, a program that tied for 1st place in the 1986 World Computer Chess Championship, and Polaris, the first program to become competitive with world-class poker players.
 
Jonathan has an administrative record that demonstrates a leadership characterized by a high standard of ethics, accountability, and transparency. His approach to decision-making is to listen to understand others first, to analyze, and then to act based on facts, while seeking outcomes that are a win for all. He has significant experience in the areas of financial responsibility, outreach and fund development as well as the ability to attract high-quality talent and to bring people and resources together. Recognizing and supporting the ideas of others and encouraging ventures in innovation are important to him.
 
Moreover, Jonathan showed far-sighted leadership in the area of high performance computing (HPC) with his work on creating a long-range plan for Canadian HPC, WestGrid (Western Canada partnership), and Compute Canada (national organization). Provincially, he led the piloting of innovative programs that revitalized provincial high school education in computing science.
 
Jonathan is passionate about teaching and committed to teaching excellence. He considers the University environment to be all about students and wants to see their experience at the U of A become a turning point in their lives. He considers the teaching arena to be ripe for new perspectives that will drive the next innovations in pedagogy.

Jonathan considers the Faculty of Science to be “a superb Faculty to be in.” He plans to consult widely to create a vision that will position the Faculty to be a modern global leader.

For more go to the online story.
 

I hope you will join me in congratulating Dr. Schaeffer on his appointment.
 

At this time, I would like to thank Dr. Gregory Taylor for his excellent service as Dean of the Faculty of Science since 2003. Under his leadership, the Faculty hired more than 100 new professors; increased the number of research chairs and fellowships; established a host of research centres and institutes, as well as the Science Cohorts Program and the Science 100 Program; and completed the Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science. We wish Dr. Taylor all the best as he returns to teaching and research.


Sincerely,

Carl Amrhein
Provost and Vice-President (Academic)