Laurel L. Wilkening
Planetary scientist and university administrator (1944–2019)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Laurel L. Wilkening (November 23, 1944 – June 4, 2019) was an American planetary scientist and college professor. She was chancellor of the University of California, Irvine (UCI) from 1993 to 1998.
Laurel L. Wilkening | |
|---|---|
| |
| 3rd Chancellor of the University of California, Irvine | |
| In office 1993 – 1998 | |
| Preceded by | Jack Peltason |
| Succeeded by | Ralph Cicerone |
| Personal details | |
| Born | November 23, 1944 Richland, Washington |
| Died | June 4, 2019 (aged 74) Arizona |
| Occupation | Chemist, planetary scientist, professor, college administrator |
Known for | Chancellor, University of California, Irvine (1993-1998) |
| Scientific career | |
| Education | |
| Fields | Planetary science |
| Workplaces | |
| Thesis | On the Early History of Meteorites: Evidence from Glasses, from Fossil Particle Tracks and from the Noble Gases (1970) |
| Hans Suess | |
Other academic advisors | Harold Urey Hannes Alfvén |
Early life
Wilkening was born in Richland, Washington, and raised in Socorro, New Mexico.[1] Her mother, Ruby Alma Barks Wilkening, was a teacher;[2] her father, Marvin H. Wilkening, was an atomic scientist during World War II, and a physics professor at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.[3][4][5] She earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry at Reed College in 1966.[6] She completed doctoral studies in chemistry at the University of California, San Diego in 1970, under advisor Hans Suess.[7][8] Her dissertation committee included two Nobel Prize laureates, Harold Urey and Hannes Alfvén.[9] She held post-doctoral appointments in Mumbai, Mainz, Paris, and Chicago.[9]
Career
Planetary research and space policy
Wilkening's research focused on comets, meteorites, and Moon rocks. As a doctoral student, she studied Rock Number 17, one of the first lunar samples released from quarantine.[1][7] She coedited a textbook, Comets (1982), with Mildred Shapley Matthews.[10][11][12] Wilkening sat next to Jimmy Carter at the White House to watch the first images from the Voyager mission.[1][13] She was vice-chair of the National Commission on Space,[13] chair of the Space Policy Advisory Board,[14] and vice-chair of the Advisory Committee on the Future of the U.S. Space Programs.[15] She served on the board of The Planetary Society.[16] In 2001, she recorded an oral history interview for the NASA Headquarters Oral History Project.[1] Asteroid 75562 was named for Wilkening in 2013.[16]
University work
Wilkening taught chemistry and planetary science at the University of Arizona beginning in 1973,[17] and from 1981 was head of the Planetary Science department and director of the university's Lunar & Planetary Laboratory. She also served as the university's acting dean of sciences, and vice-president for research.[13] While she was at Arizona, she helped to found the Women's Studies program, and made a statistical report on pay equity on the campus. She later gave over $100,000 to the university's Women's Plaza of Honor project.[18]
From 1988 to 1993, she was provost at the University of Washington.[7] In 1993, she became the third chancellor of the University of California, Irvine;[19][20] she was also the third woman to hold the position of chancellor in the University of California system.[15][21]
Wilkening retired from academic work in 1998,[22][23] and ran a vineyard in Elgin, Arizona with her husband in her later years.[16] In 2005, the University of California, Irvine dedicated the Laurel L. Wilkening Rose Garden on campus. In 2009, Wilkening received the UCI Medal.[16]
