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Laurel L. Wilkening

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Laurel L. Wilkening
3rd Chancellor of the University of California, Irvine
In office
1993 (1993)–1998 (1998)
Preceded byJack Peltason
Succeeded byRalph Cicerone
Personal details
Born(1944-11-23)November 23, 1944
Richland, Washington
DiedJune 4, 2019(2019-06-04) (aged 74)
Arizona
NationalityAmerican
OccupationChemist, planetary scientist, professor, college administrator
Known forChancellor, University of California, Irvine (1993-1998)
Alma mater
Scientific career
FieldsPlanetary science
Institutions
ThesisOn the Early History of Meteorites: Evidence from Glasses, from Fossil Particle Tracks and from the Noble Gases (1970)
Doctoral advisorHans Suess
Other academic advisorsHarold Urey
Hannes Alfvén

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.

Early life

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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

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Planetary research and space policy

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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

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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]

Personal life

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Wilkening married fellow planetary chemist and former Carmelite friar,[24] Godfrey T. Sill.[25] She was widowed when Sill died in 2007. She died in 2019, aged 74 years, in Arizona.[16][19] Some of her papers are in the University Archives at UCI.[26]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Butler, Carol (November 15, 2001). "Laurel L. Wilkening Oral History". NASA Headquarters Oral History Project. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  2. ^ "Ruby Alma Barks Wilkening". Women's Plaza of Honor. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  3. ^ Jojola, Lloyd (September 28, 2006). "Physicist Contributed to Manhattan Project". ABQ Journal. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  4. ^ "Marvin Wilkening's Interview (1986)". Manhattan Project Voices. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  5. ^ "Guide to the Marvin Wilkening Papers 1940-1992". University of Chicago Library. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  6. ^ "Laurel Wilkening '66". Reed Magazine | In Memoriam. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  7. ^ a b c "Laurel Wilkening, third UCI chancellor and noted planetary scientist, dies at 74". UCI News. June 7, 2019. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  8. ^ Wilkening, Laurel Lynn (1970). On the Early History of Meteorites: Evidence from Glasses, from Fossil Particle Tracks and from the Noble Gases (Ph.D. thesis). University of California, San Diego. OCLC 1084468188. ProQuest 302388232.
  9. ^ a b Swindle, Timothy D. (June 18, 2019). "Laurel Wilkening (1944-2019)". The Meteoritical Society. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  10. ^ "Dr. Laurel L. Wilkening, 1944 - 2019". Lunar and Planetary Laboratory & Department of Planetary Sciences | The University of Arizona. June 7, 2019. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  11. ^ Comets. Wilkening, Laurel L., Matthews, Mildred Shapley. Tucson, Ariz.: University of Arizona Press. 1982. ISBN 0-8165-0769-4. OCLC 8034851.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  12. ^ Newburn, Ray L. (December 1982). "Comets". Icarus. 52 (3): 585–586. doi:10.1016/0019-1035(82)90018-5.
  13. ^ a b c Martin, J. C. (May 26, 1985). "UA's Highest-ranking Woman Has Earned Her Way There". Arizona Daily Star. p. 57. Retrieved January 10, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Dick, Steven J. (2007). Societal Impact of Spaceflight. Government Printing Office. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-16-086717-0.
  15. ^ a b Gillman, Howard (June 7, 2019). "Passing of Chancellor Emerita Laurel Wilkening". Office of the Chancellor, UCI. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  16. ^ a b c d e "Ex-UCI chancellor and planetary scientist Laurel Wilkening dies". Daily Pilot. June 11, 2019. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  17. ^ Sevigny, Melissa L. (February 25, 2016). Under Desert Skies: How Tucson Mapped the Way to the Moon and Planets. University of Arizona Press. pp. 58–59. ISBN 978-1-941451-04-5.
  18. ^ Demers, Jasmine (June 12, 2019). "Laurel Wilkening, former UA planetary scientist and dean of sciences, dies at 74". This is Tucson. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  19. ^ a b Robinson, Alicia (June 8, 2019). "UC Irvine's 3rd chancellor, science educator Laurel Wilkening, has died at 74". Orange County Register. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  20. ^ Eng, Lily (February 14, 1993). "Next chancellor of UC Irvine is a former UA vice president". Arizona Daily Star. p. 25. Retrieved January 10, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ Trounson, Rebecca (September 17, 1994). "Too Ambitious, or Not Enough? Experts Vary". The Los Angeles Times. p. 134. Retrieved January 10, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "U. C. Irvine Chancellor Announces Resignation". Santa Cruz Sentinel. September 4, 1997. p. A6. Retrieved January 10, 2019 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  23. ^ Wilson, Janet (September 4, 1997). "Her Message of Departure Reflects Her Stay". The Los Angeles Times. p. 150. Retrieved January 10, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ Maggio, Elizabeth (December 26, 1971). "Science/Medicine". Arizona Daily Star. p. 56. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  25. ^ Sears, Derek W. G. (2019). Gerard P. Kuiper and the Rise of Modern Planetary Science. University of Arizona Press. pp. 270–272. ISBN 978-0-8165-3900-0.
  26. ^ "Chancellor Laurel L. Wilkening Records (University of California, Irvine)". Online Archive of California. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
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