June 8, 2009

To the Campus Community,

After 32 years of service to UC Santa Barbara, Dean Loy Lytle has announced his retirement this year.

Loy is an alumnus of UC Santa Barbara, having obtained B.A. degrees in Psychology and History in 1966.  He received a Ph.D. degree in Psychology from Princeton University in 1970, and earned a postdoctoral fellowship to work in Neuropharmacology at MIT from 1970-1972.  He subsequently joined the faculty in Neurosciences at MIT, and was one of the first recipients of an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation prize.  He returned to UC Santa Barbara to join the faculty in the Department of Psychology in 1977.

Loy's first research efforts were devoted to studying the effects of a variety of psychoactive drugs and nutrients on brain neurochemistry and behavior, with a particular focus on how these chemicals produced short- and longer-term changes in brain and behavior, when administered early in development. He later turned to the discovery of new drugs for alleviating pain.  He published over 100 original research and review articles and abstracts in psychopharmacology and neurochemistry, received a distinguished teacher award from the UC Santa Barbara Mortar Board Society, and held a now-expired patent on the use of Prozac for the alleviation of pain in humans. He served consecutive terms as Vice Chair and Chair of the Department of Psychology, and participated on numerous campus and system wide committees.

In 1996, he assumed the post of Dean of Summer Sessions, and oversaw its successful transformation and growth from a self-supported to a state-funded enterprise.  In 2001 he added the job of Dean of Extended Learning Services, where he has overseen both the Extension and Off-Campus Studies programs through challenging times. Recognizing Loy's Leadership Qualities, the Western Association of Summer Sessions Administrators (WASSA) elected him president in 2002-2003 as did the North American Association of Summer Sessions (NAASS) in 2007-2008. Loy has been a member of the Professional Standards and Research Committees in WASSA, the Finance Committee in NAASS and, currently, is a member of the Executive and Quality and Research Committees and Administrative Council of NAASS.  During his tenure, the UC Santa Barbara Office of Summer Sessions received 3 Exemplary Program Awards from WASSA, 3 Most Outstanding Administrative Program Awards from NAASS, and 4 NAASS Awards of Merit.

In all his efforts for both Extended Learning Services and Summer Sessions, Loy put his research training, his remarkable creativity, and his infectious sense of humor to work to attain the goals that he and his staff established.

We all wish Loy the very best in retirement.  True to his loyalty to the institution, he has agreed to be recalled on August 1 to serve as Interim Dean of Summer Sessions until his replacement can be found.

Sincerely,

Gene Lucas
Executive Vice Chancellor

Ron Tobin
Associate Vice Chancellor, Academic Programs