Santa Clara University

Jack Gilbert

Program Director, Biotechnology and Society

Jack Gilbert was a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Natural Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) prior to joining Santa Clara University (SCU) as Director of the Biotechnology program of the CSTS and Professor/Chair of the Department of Chemistry. Jack is responsible for the Center's biotechnology initiative. After consulting with local experts regarding the major societal issues associated with this emerging area of science, he has initiated a series of seminars, panels, and other activities to explore the impacts of biotech on society. Long term, the goal is to engage a broad set of participants, ranging from industry and academy experts to laypersons with relatively little understanding of this field of science, in biotech programming. Educated at the University of Wyoming (B.S.) and Yale University (M.S., Ph.D.), he joined the faculty of UT Austin in 1965. His research interests are in organic chemistry, with special emphasis on synthetic methodology and reactive intermediates. He is extremely proud of the postdoctoral, graduate, and undergraduate students he mentored during his career and is pleased that their discoveries in research have resulted in a useful chemical reagent being named after him. He received the Advisory Council Teaching Excellence Award for the 2002–2003 academic year.
 
During his tenure at UT Austin, he held several administrative positions and has served on a number of committees at all levels of the university. He was chair of the Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry and then of Human Ecology, where he learned the ins and outs of fashion design, among other things. Interestingly, for the final two years of his term in the latter department he also held the position of associate dean and frequently found himself, as chairperson, writing himself, as associate dean, seeking financial resources, which were invariably granted! He chaired the Faculty Council of the university, and the Faculty Building Advisory Committee, one of the most important and active standing committees of the General Faculty.