Mark A. Richards , professor and former chair of earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley, and an expert on the Earth's mantle, will become the campus dean for physical sciences on July 1, 2002, Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost Paul Gray announced today (Monday, June 11). In his new post in the College of Letters & Science, Richards will oversee faculty members and research initiatives in physics, astronomy, geosciences, mathematics and statistics. universityofcalifornia.edu