Dana Johnston, professor of Geology, has been selected begin a three-year term as Associate Dean of Sciences, starting July 1.

Johnston has been a member of the UO faculty since 1986 and is the recipient of a Richard Bray Faculty Fellowship and an Ersted Distinguished Teaching Award. He served as head of the Department of Geological Sciences for 12 years, from 1995-2007, and has been an elected member of the Graduate Council, the Dean’s Advisory Committee, and the Dean’s Advisory Group.

Prior to his arrival at UO, Johnston was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Bergen, Norway, and a Research Fellow at California Institute of Technology. He earned an M.S. in Mineralogy/Petrology from the University of Minnesota, and served as staff petrologist at Phillips Petroleum Company Research Center before returning to the University of Minnesota where he earned a Ph.D. in Geology in 1983.

With current and continuous funding from NSF for more than 20 years,  Johnston leads an experimental research group that has been involved in solving diverse problems in igneous and metamorphic petrology. He publishes in the leading journals in his field, has mentored many successful graduate students, and earned stellar teaching evaluations in undergraduate courses ranging from large introductory lecture classes to advanced upper division seminars.

“I look forward with enthusiasm to working with Associate Dean Dana Johnston over the coming years,” said Scott Coltrane, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.