University of California at Berkeley Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl announced Tyson's appointment to the deanship of the Haas School of Business on Friday (5/15). Tyson steps into the job on July 1, making her the first female dean at a top 25 B-school. She succeeds William A. Hasler, who held the position for the past seven years. Hasler will become co-CEO of Aphton, a biotech company.

"I think it will be great next step for the school," said Hasler. "We've made a lot of progress, and Laura Tyson's visibility and service in Washington will only help to build upon Haas's positive growth." Tyson has two main goals for her time at Haas, Hasler said: to continue to build the entrepreneurship, technology management, and global business initiatives that the school embarked upon six years ago, and to further develop executive education programs like the executive MBA.

Tyson takes the reins during a period of ascendancy for Haas, with MBA applications rising 102% over the past five years. Increasing satisfaction among grads, the school's proximity to Silicon Valley, and the construction of a $45 million B-school mini-campus in 1995 are some key factors in boosting Haas. And in Business Week's latest B-school rankings, Haas grabbed the 13th spot, its highest placement since the rankings began in 1988 (see BW, Oct. 21, 1996, "The Best B-Schools").

Tyson's qualifications are exceptionally strong. An economist interested primarily in international trade and issues of competitiveness, she has spent the bulk of her working life in academe. Tyson earned her PhD in economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1974, spent the next three years as an assistant professor of economics at Princeton University, and joined the Berkeley faculty in 1977, where she has taught economics classes to freshmen and doctoral students for almost 20 years. In 1993 President Clinton appointed her chairwoman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) and in 1995 promoted her to National Economic Adviser, replacing Robert Rubin.

If Tyson's appointment to the deanship is at all unusual, it's because of her gender. She'll become one of only 51 female deans among the 700-plus business programs accredited worldwide by the AACSB -- the International Association for Management Education. (She also was the first woman to head the CEA.) It's no PR stunt, says Hasler: Tyson was the most qualified candidate. "That's why she was picked, and I think [her selection] fits the image of Berkeley," he said.

During Clinton's first term, Tyson was responsible for coordinating policy among departments on such issues as budget cutting and international trade. She also served on Clinton's National Security Council and Domestic Policy Council. In 1997 she returned to the Berkeley campus to resume her teaching career and has remained there up to her appointment as dean. She hasn't left Beltway politics behind entirely, however: She was recently named to the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare and is a member of the Trilateral Commission.