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June 16, 2004

Campus names interim advancement VP

Marion O’Leary, dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at California State University, Sacramento, has been named the University’s interim vice president for university advancement beginning July 1, CSUS President Alexander Gonzalez announced today.

Robert Jones announced his retirement from the vice presidency this year after 38 years with the University of California and the California State University systems.

O’Leary will serve in the interim post while the search for a permanent vice president continues. He will also continue to serve as chair of the search committee for the position.

“As Dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics since 1996, Dr. O’Leary is familiar with the campus and with the job that needs to be accomplished in advancement. He will provide strong and active leadership in this important role,” said President Gonzalez.

“Over the past year, the University has established strong fundraising goals and new directions. This interim appointment allows us to move vigorously forward while we locate the individual who will provide the enduring leadership to achieve our next level of development. I look forward to engaging Dr. O’Leary’s energy and creative ideas in a different area of his expertise.”

Laurel G. Heffernan will serve as the acting dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. She joined the campus in 1986 in the department of biological sciences and served six years as department chair.

Prior to taking the dean’s position at CSUS, O’Leary was chair of the department of biochemistry at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he was involved with the funding, design, and construction of the $32-million George W. Beadle Center for Genetics and Biomaterials Research. He began his career and rose through the ranks at the University of Wisconsin-Madison serving as assistant chair of chemistry before moving on to Nebraska.

O’Leary received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Illinois and his doctorate in organic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a National Institutes of Health Fellow at Harvard University. He has also served as a National Science Foundation Fellow, a Sloan Foundation Fellow, a Guggenheim Foundation Fellow and spent several periods as a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University in Canberra.

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