Dr. Dan Montello has been appointed an Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Studies in the College of Letters & Science. Dr. Montello’s research interests include spatial perception, cognition, and behavior; cognitive issues in cartography and GIS; spatial aspects of social behavior; environmental psychology and behavioral geography. Dan is an affiliated faculty member of the Department of Psychology, he is the Chair of the interdisciplinary Cognitive Science Emphasis Program, and he has served as the Vice Chair of the Department of Geography for 10 years (he will be stepping down from that position on November 1, 2005).
Dan’s position as an Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Studies in the College of Letters & Science becomes effective on July 1. According to the web site: The College of Letters and Science is the largest center for teaching, learning, and research on the UCSB campus and the third largest in the University of California system, offering students an array of nearly 80 majors and interdisciplinary programs and over 30 academic minors. The college is a place of serious intellectual activity, with a faculty deeply committed to teaching as well as active in research and creative pursuits. The college is organized into three divisions: the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts (Dean David Marshall), the Division of Mathematical, Life, and Physical Sciences (Dean Martin Moskovits), and the Division of Social Sciences (Dean Melvin Oliver). Acting Provost Aaron Ettenberg oversees the administration of the college, which has three divisional deans, four associate divisional deans, a dean of undergraduate studies (Dean Alan Wyner), an associate dean, three assistant deans, and 45 support staff. In addition to 47 academic departments and programs from Anthropology to Women’s Studies, the college oversees a number of other units that enrich the intellectual life of the campus, including the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center and the University Art Museum.
