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2006 Alumnus of the Year
Karl Pister '45, M.S. '48
For a man who claims "a complete absence of any strategic plan for my life," Karl Pister has a lot to be proud of professionally and personally. "Karl Pister is one of the most remarkable leaders in the history of the university," said UC President Richard C. Atkinson upon Pister's retirement. "As a teacher, he had unusual understanding of the student--teacher relationship and a deep commitment to undergraduate education. As a research scientist, he made major contributions to the field of engineering. As a dean and senior administrator, he was an outstanding contributor to the betterment of this institution. And his record as chancellor has proven to be even more distinguished." Chancellor Robert Birgeneau echoes those sentiments: "It is hard to find an individual whose life work better mirrors the very mission of our university."
Pister's Cal odyssey began in 1942 when he first set foot on campus as a 17 year-old farm boy from Stockton. He quickly realized that he'd been handed an incredible opportunity and a daunting challenge. Adjusting to university life was a cultural shock and his memories of that adjustment have made him sensitive to the cultural adjustments students in every generation face. Over his long, illustrious career, he has prioritized outreach and inclusion--both as a professor and as an administrator.
Pister recently completed five decades of service to higher education, primarily at his alma mater. He began his career in higher education as Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at UC Berkeley. He served as Chairman of the Division of Structural Engineering and Structural Mechanics before his appointment as Dean of the College of Engineering in 1980, a position he held for ten years. During his tenure, the school emerged as one of the highest-regarded programs in the nation. From 1985 to 1990 he was the first holder of the Roy W. Carlson Chair in Engineering, and from 1991-1996 he served as Chancellor, UC Santa Cruz. This was another time of tremendous adjustment for Pister, and his wife Rita, as he managed a campus dealing with budget cuts, academic turf struggles, and town/gown disagreements. Through a combination of investigation, negotiation and public process, he got the campus back on a stable footing. His achievements as chancellor include vigorous support of excellence in teaching, research, and public service; initiation of numerous projects including the Monterey Bay Educational Consortium and the Monterey Bay Science and Technology Center; and significant leadership in the Fort Ord base conversion project. UCSC also received record numbers of research contracts, grants, and private donations during his tenure.
In 1996, UC President Atkinson tapped Pister to broaden Cal's outreach and improve educational opportunities for underrepresented students. Through his advocacy, the state budget for university outreach tripled from $61.7 million to $178.5 million four years later. Pister recently was chosen to head a panel overseeing reconstruction and upgrade of Boalt Hall School of Law, Haas School of Business, and Memorial Stadium. This incredibly ambitious project re-conceives the look and functionality of the Southeast quadrant, which serves as one of the primary gateways to the campus for visitors, staff and students.
An acclaimed civil engineer with decades of teaching experience, Pister has received the Wason Medal for Research, awarded by the American Concrete Institute, and was the recipient of Distinguished Alumni Awards from both the University of Illinois and the University of California, Berkeley Colleges of Engineering. The American Society for Engineering Education presented him with the Vincent Bendix Award for Minorities in Engineering, and the Lamme Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the society, for his contributions to engineering education. He is also the recipient of the Berkeley Medal, awarded by UC Berkeley, the Presidential Medal of the University of California and the Year 2000 Presidential Award of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Additionally, he is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Mechanics, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the American University of Armenia and the Board of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.
Read more about Karl Pister in the California magazine.
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Mark Bingham Award for Excellence in Achievement
Nicole Parra '92
As the Assemblywoman for the state's 30th assembly district (D-Hanford), Nicole Parra is the only woman at the state and federal level representing California's lower Central Valley. She studied Economics at Berkeley and received her law degree from Catholic University in Washington D.C. After completing her education, she returned to the Valley to work as District Director for U.S. Congressman Cal Dooley, a position she held until her 2002 election to the Assembly. The 30th assembly district is one of the fastest growing areas in the country and faces a number of challenges, many stemming from an economy fueled by a unique combination of agriculture, oil production and the state correctional system. Critical issues Parra has addressed include poverty relief, safe drinking water, military base closures and veterans rights. Among her successes - she chaired the Select Committee on Megan's Law and Sex Offender Registration, authoring several bills aimed at strengthening and expanding Megan's Law in California. Parra was named 2003 Legislator of the Year by the California Main Street Alliance and the California Downtown Association and Outstanding Assembly Person of 2005 by the California State Sheriffs' Association. She has served as Chair of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee and of the Assembly Select Committee on Water, Infrastructure and the Economy.
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Excellence in Achievement
Steven Chu Ph.D. '76
Nobel Laureate Steven Chu is the sixth and current Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. An international expert in atomic physics, laser spectroscopy, biophysics and polymer physics, he holds degrees in mathematics and physics from the University of Rochester, and received his doctorate in physics at Berkeley, where he first began experimenting with state-of-the-art lasers. After teaching at Cal, he joined the staff at Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, N.J. When colleagues encouraged him to "start a new field," he began researching the optical spectroscopy of positronium, encountering numerous measurement challenges. Shortly after his promotion to head of the AT&T Bell Lab's Quantum Electronics Research Department in 1983, Chu began experimenting with using laser light to cool and trap atoms. He continued this work when he moved to Stanford to teach in the Physics and Applied Physics Departments. There, he and his co-workers used laser beams to chill and slow atoms so their properties and phenomena could be more precisely measured. In 1997, he and colleagues Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and William D. Phillips received the Nobel Prize for Physics for their groundbreaking work on the “optical tweezers” laser trap. Their laser techniques now enable scientists to do a host of things, from improving the accuracy of atomic clocks used in space navigation to designing atomic lasers that manipulate electronic circuits. Chu has authored hundreds of scientific papers, received 6 honorary degrees, and won dozens of awards in addition to the Nobel Prize. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and a member of many science academies including the National Academy of Science and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 2004, he returned to Cal to lead the Berkeley Lab.
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Excellence in Achievement
Peter Walker '55
Peter Walker is an internationally-esteemed landscape architect with a half century of experience in practice and teaching. His work explores the relationship between art, culture, and context, and challenges traditional concepts of urban and rural design in projects ranging from small gardens to corporate complexes. Walker's designs both influence and respond to their environment, and have been described as "modern and minimal without being cold and reductive." He has collaborated with architects such as I.M. Pei and Helmut Jahn; his commissions include Millennium Park at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Saitama Plaza and Harima Town Park in Japan, and Sony Center and D.I.F.A. in Berlin. Co-founder of the firm Sasaki, Walker and Associates, Walker opened its west-coast office (The S.W.A. Group) in 1975. In 1983, he formed Peter Walker and Partners. He has served as consultant and advisor to numerous public agencies and institutions including Stanford and the University of California, and he chaired the Landscape Architecture Departments at Harvard's Graduate School of Design and at UC Berkeley (1997-1999). Walker is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects and of the Institute for Urban Design, and was granted the American Institute of Architects' Honor Award. His firm has won more than seventeen design competitions in the past decade. In 2004, Walker teamed with Michael Arad to secure the commission for the World Trade Center Memorial, "Reflecting Absence."
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Excellence in Service*
Nadesan Permaul '72, M.A. '73, Ph.D. '90
Nadesan Permail currently is director of the parking and transportation department at UC Berkeley. He has been a member of campus staff for twenty-eight years, working in several departments in progressively more essential capacities. He arrived at Cal in the fall of 1967 courtesy of an Alumni Scholarship and, during his first week on campus, attended an evening rally on Sproul Plaza in the company of 10,000 students spellbound by professors speaking out against the Vietnam War. He visited Memorial Stadium and thought, "My, this is beautiful!" He also did what probably few freshmen ever have: he spent time in the Bancroft Library reading about the history of the campus. "I found out this was rather a fabulous place." Permaul earned his B.A. in political science in 1972 and then went on to graduate school in political theory. He was well on his way to a Ph.D. and an academic career when the bottom dropped out of the academic market. In 1980, Permaul took a job on campus, in recreational sports, which he held for eight years before spending the next five as an executive assistant in campus facilities. He persisted with his post-graduate work, eventually earning his Ph.D. in 1990; his dissertation focused on American political theory and American literature of the ante-bellum period. In 1994, he assumed leadership of Parking and Transportation.
Permaul also has lectured at Cal for 12 years, typically teaching an upper division course in rhetoric every fall and one course in political science each spring. His enthusiasm for teaching and for the academic exchange between instructors and students makes him a very popular professor.
His lifelong love of education is matched only by his love of Cal, her colorful history, and her evolving traditions. He is the Faculty Advisor to the Oski Committee and past Alumni Secretary for the Order of the Golden Bear. He just completed eight years of official service to the California Alumni Association, culminating in his presidency (2003-2005). The accomplishments of his tenure include: the launch of plans and funding for expansion and improvement of the Lair of the Bear summer camps; design and implementation of a new governance model for CAA; and development of a strategic plan that addresses how the Alumni Association will look and operate in the future, especially for upcoming graduates. Permaul is well aware that the student body has undergone a metamorphosis from his day. "We have to find a way of tying our undergraduates, from very diverse backgrounds--many of whom have never had a college experience in their family--to this University in a traditional way, of making them want to give back to this great public institution."
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Bradford S. King Award*
Mel Ochoa '98
Mel Ochoa's passion for Cal is clear. Since his graduation with a double major in history and rhetoric, he has fulfilled numerous volunteer commitments, especially through scholarship and mentorship activities at the California Alumni Association. More importantly, he has motivated a large group of his alumni peers to stay connected with Cal, and with each other. Networking and motivating seem to come easily to Ochoa. His campus leadership positions included: president of the Residence Hall Assembly, member of the Mayor's Student Advisory Committee, and founder of the Student Advisory Council. Yet he credits much of his post-graduate success to alumni who took a personal and genuine interest in his matriculation. As a young alumnus, Ochoa has held membership in the California Alumni Association's Young Alumni Council and Board of Directors. He served as the media relations contact and organizer for the 2005 Charter Banquet Gala and has assisted many times with Achievement Award interviews. Away from Cal, he volunteers with the Boys and Girls Club of San Francisco. His past jobs include Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Bridgepath and he is the founder/editor of Global Degree. He currently is the Acting Director of Marketing for the Bay Area Discovery Museum. Despite his insane work schedule, Ochoa is determined keep turning his energy in useful directions - to improve his community, to advance his alma mater, and to have FUN!
Outstanding Club of the Year*
Cal Alumni Club of New York
The Cal Alumni Club of New York is thriving once again. Faced with leadership burnout and waning alumni participation, the leadership team of the club made big changes in the last eighteen months. They began recruiting young alumni to fill the leadership ranks and broadened their communication to all members, primarily through website development and monthly e-mail newsletters. They surveyed member interests and redesigned their events accordingly. Membership has grown 36% in a year to 167 paying members. Their website allows alumni to conveniently join or donate on-line and provides up-to-the-minute details on student and alumni events - in New York and at Cal. Job postings appear in the monthly e-mail newsletters. The club has expanded networking and social opportunities, initiating a very popular dining club, karaoke nights and happy hours. They partner on events with the PAAC-10 alumni group in New York, and with local schools such as Columbia University. Their Big Game event has drawn as many as 300 people and their annual new student reception is well attended. Educational club offerings include seminars on personal finance, and insurance and estate planning. They pride themselves on their community service as well, participating in local activities such as NY Cares Day.
* The Excellence in Service, Bradford S. King and Outstanding Club of the Year award recipients were honored January 20, 2006 at the California Honors Reception.