Decision to Step Down as Dean on December 31, 2001

August 10, 2001

Dear Students of the Haas School,

I am writing to let you know that I will be stepping down as Dean of the
Haas School as of December 31, 2001 after serving three and one-half
years. I had originally intended to remain Dean through June 30, 2001. But
rather unexpectedly, I have been offered the possibility of fulfilling a
long-held dream of spending a few years in London (where my husband spent
much of his childhood) and doing so in a way that I believe will enhance my
skills as a professor and university administrator.

During the last year or so, I explored the feasibility and desirability of
forging some kind of strategic alliance between the Haas School and the
London Business School. During my discussions and visits to London, I
became acquainted with members of the External Governing Body, the Dean's
Office and the faculty at LBS. When the LBS Dean announced in January that
he would be departing in June, the School began an intensive international
search to replace him, and my name was added to the list. During the last
few weeks, I have been offered this position. After considerable
soul-searching and family discussion, I have decided to take leave from my
faculty appointment at Berkeley to accept this offer. London is an ideal
vantage point from which to study the globalization of business, and like
the Haas School, the London Business School is one of the best in the world.

During the next five months, I will remain fully committed to all of the
exciting initiatives now under way at the Haas School, including the new
Masters in Financial Engineering program, a concurrent MBA-MFE degree
option, a new Executive MBA program that has just received University
approval and will be announced in September, the expansion of the evening
MBA program to include a "Saturday" cohort, and the development of the
Initiative in Socially Responsible Business Leadership.

In addition to these programmatic initiatives, Associate Dean Ben Hermalin
and I have formed a school-wide faculty search committee to recruit for the
ten additional faculty slots for which we have received approval this
academic year. Meetings of this committee will begin early in the fall in
order to maximize the time available for identifying and pursuing promising
candidates. I have negotiated a special agreement with the University that
grants unprecedented autonomy in faculty retention and recruitment to the
Haas School. Nonetheless, because of strong competition, the School
continues to face its greatest challenges in these areas.

Finally, there is the task of updating the core curriculum in the MBA and
Evening MBA programs. Last year the faculty agreed to give me the
discretion to make a final decision on changes to the core after reviewing
both last year's MBAA student survey on the core curriculum and proposals
from interested faculty members. I plan to make a final recommendation for
core reform in October for implementation in the 2002-2003 academic
year. Core reform will help the School deliver the very latest and the
very best in management education.

Throughout the rest of the year, I will also continue to work with the
School's talented and committed professional staff to provide outstanding
School services to faculty, alumni, donors, recruiters, university
administrators and of course students. The quality of these services is
critical to the reputation and ranking of the Haas School. I have worked
hard to attract and retain an outstanding staff and am proud of their many
accomplishments and of the cooperative management culture they have helped
to create.

I am also proud of the talented students of the Haas School. They are
bright, energetic, ambitious, entrepreneurial and caring. They work
together to foster a cooperative "team spirit," that is a rarity among
top-notch business schools. And they have created and maintained some of
the most important activities at the School like the Leading Edge, Women in
Leadership and Asian Business conferences, the Berkeley Business Plan
Competition, the National Social Venture Business Plan Competition, and
many student-initiated courses and special lectures.

To the extent that I have had some successes during my tenure as Dean, I
own them to a talented and dedicated staff, a responsive central campus
administration, a first-rate faculty, loyal alumni, and outstanding
students. Thanks for making my experience in the job so meaningful. And
thanks for your commitment to the School's wellbeing. I hope that you will
look back upon your years at Haas as among the happiest and most productive
years of your life. I know I will.

Best of luck and make sure to stay in touch with the Haas School as loyal
alumni.

Laura D. Tyson
Dean