Winston Ko, chair of the physics department at the University of California, Davis, has been appointed dean of the Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences following a seven-month national search.

Ko, 60, will assume his new post July 1, pending approval by the UC Board of Regents.

"We are fortunate that Professor Ko has accepted our invitation to serve as dean," said UC Davis Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef. "He is a highly respected colleague who has a well-deserved reputation for being able to work effectively with people to achieve the best possible outcome, regardless of the complexity of the challenge at hand. I am confident that his knowledge of the division and the campus and his skills as an administrator will serve the division well."

Added Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw: "I am very impressed with Professor Ko's willingness to initiate pilot programs to explore promising possibilities. That inventive approach will serve any new dean very well."

As dean, Ko will be the division's chief academic and administrative officer, with responsibility for its academic leadership and for management of its faculty and staff, physical facilities and budget.

One of three divisions within the College of Letters and Science, the Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences comprises the departments of Chemistry, Geology, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics. It has 153 full-time faculty, 1,195 undergraduate students in eight majors and a graduate student enrollment of approximately 375. Its research budget totaled more than $13.6 million in 2001-02.

"In the past eight years, the division has made great strides under the leadership of Dean Peter Rock," Ko said. "I am excited and honored to carry the torch to sustain the momentum to build a truly great Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences -- a division that will provide a firm foundation for the campus's goals of achieving national and international distinction and effectively addressing many state, national and global challenges."

Ko first joined the UC Davis faculty in 1970 as an assistant research physicist and lecturer. He progressed through the professorial ranks beginning in 1972, becoming a full professor in 1982. In 1991-93, he was a Fulbright Senior Professor in Germany. In 1997-98, he served as assistant vice provost for academic planning and personnel. He has served as chair of the physics department since 1998.

Ko's area of academic expertise is experimental particle physics. The author or co-author of more than 180 publications, he has performed experiments in high energy physics at laboratories around the world, investigating the basic constituents of matter and the forces between them.

Ko received a bachelor's degree in physics from Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University), and a master's and doctor's degree in physics from the University of Pennsylvania.

He succeeds Peter Rock, who plans to continue his environmental geochemistry research and to complete writing projects during a 2003-04 sabbatical leave.