Laurel L. Wilkening

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
BornNovember 23, 1944
Richland, Washington
DiedJune 4, 2019
Arizona
NationalityAmerican
OccupationChemist, planetary scientist, professor, college administrator
Years active1970-1998
Known forChancellor, University of California, Irvine (1993-1998)

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 Seuss.[7] Her dissertation committee included two Nobel Prize laureates, Harold Urey and Hannes Alfvén.[8] She held post-doctoral appointments in Mumbai, Mainz, Paris, and Chicago.[8]

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.[9][10][11] Wilkening sat next to Jimmy Carter at the White House to watch the first images from the Voyager mission.[1][12] She was vice-chair of the National Commission on Space,[12] chair of the Space Policy Advisory Board,[13] and vice-chair of the Advisory Committee on the Future of the U.S. Space Programs.[14] She served on the board of The Planetary Society.[15] In 2001, she recorded an oral history interview for the NASA Headquarters Oral History Project.[1] Asteroid 75562 was named for Wilkening in 2013.[15]

University work

Wilkening taught chemistry and planetary science at the University of Arizona beginning in 1973,[16] 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.[12] 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.[17]

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;[18][19] she was also the third woman to hold the position of chancellor in the University of California system.[14][20]

Wilkening retired from academic work in 1998,[21][22] and ran a vineyard in Elgin, Arizona with her husband in her later years.[15] In 2005, the University of California, Irvine dedicated the Laurel L. Wilkening Rose Garden on campus. In 2009, Wilkening received the UCI Medal.[15]

Personal life

Wilkening married fellow planetary chemist and former Carmelite monk,[23] Godfrey T. Sill.[24] She was widowed when Sill died in 2007. She died in 2019, aged 74 years, in Arizona.[15][18] Some of her papers are in the University Archives at UCI.[25]

References
  1. Butler, Carol (November 15, 2001). "Laurel L. Wilkening Oral History". NASA Headquarters Oral History Project. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  2. "Ruby Alma Barks Wilkening". Women's Plaza of Honor. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  3. Jojola, Lloyd (September 28, 2006). "Physicist Contributed to Manhattan Project". ABQ Journal. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  4. "Marvin Wilkening's Interview (1986)". Manhattan Project Voices. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  5. "Guide to the Marvin Wilkening Papers 1940-1992". University of Chicago Library. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  6. "Laurel Wilkening '66". Reed Magazine | In Memoriam. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  7. "Laurel Wilkening, third UCI chancellor and noted planetary scientist, dies at 74". UCI News. 2019-06-07. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  8. Swindle, Timothy D. (June 18, 2019). "Laurel Wilkening (1944-2019)". The Meteoritical Society. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  9. "Dr. Laurel L. Wilkening, 1944 - 2019". Lunar and Planetary Laboratory & Department of Planetary Sciences | The University of Arizona. 2019-06-07. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  10. Comets. Wilkening, Laurel L., Matthews, Mildred Shapley. Tucson, Ariz.: University of Arizona Press. 1982. ISBN 0-8165-0769-4. OCLC 8034851.CS1 maint: others (link)
  11. Newburn, Ray L. (December 1982). "Comets". Icarus. 52 (3): 585–586. doi:10.1016/0019-1035(82)90018-5.
  12. Martin, J. C. (1985-05-26). "UA's Highest-ranking Woman Has Earned Her Way There". Arizona Daily Star. p. 57. Retrieved 2020-01-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. Dick, Steven J. (2007). Societal Impact of Spaceflight. Government Printing Office. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-16-086717-0.
  14. Gillman, Howard (June 7, 2019). "Passing of Chancellor Emerita Laurel Wilkening". Office of the Chancellor, UCI. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  15. "Ex-UCI chancellor and planetary scientist Laurel Wilkening dies". Daily Pilot. 2019-06-11. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  16. Sevigny, Melissa L. (2016-02-25). 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.
  17. Demers, Jasmine. "Laurel Wilkening, former UA planetary scientist and dean of sciences, dies at 74". This is Tucson. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  18. Robinson, Alicia (2019-06-08). "UC Irvine's 3rd chancellor, science educator Laurel Wilkening, has died at 74". Orange County Register. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  19. Eng, Lily (1993-02-14). "Next chancellor of UC Irvine is a former UA vice president". Arizona Daily Star. p. 25. Retrieved 2020-01-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. Trounson, Rebecca (1994-09-17). "Too Ambitious, or Not Enough? Experts Vary". The Los Angeles Times. p. 134. Retrieved 2020-01-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. "U. C. Irvine Chancellor Announces Resignation". Santa Cruz Sentinel. September 4, 1997. p. A6. Retrieved January 10, 2019 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  22. Wilson, Janet (1997-09-04). "Her Message of Departure Reflects Her Stay". The Los Angeles Times. p. 150. Retrieved 2020-01-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. Maggio, Elizabeth (1971-12-26). "Science/Medicine". Arizona Daily Star. p. 56. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
  24. 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.
  25. "Chancellor Laurel L. Wilkening Records (University of California, Irvine)". Online Archive of California. Retrieved 2020-01-10.
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