An avid biker, lover of music, and renowned chemistry researcher, Dr. William “Bill” Tolman has officially arrived on the University of St. Thomas campus.
The new dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Tolman is spending his first days getting familiar with campus and meeting with students, faculty and staff.
“I'll be spending a lot of time meeting with people just listening really carefully to what's going on,” Tolman said. “I really care about students’ experiences as whole people, both in and outside the classroom.”
Tolman returns to the Twin Cities after serving as vice dean of research and entrepreneurship in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. The distinguished scholar previously spent nearly three decades at the University of Minnesota’s Chemistry Department.
“This position is an incredible opportunity not only to move back to the Twin Cities where we have so many friends and we raised a family,” Tolman said, “But of course I've also known about the University of St. Thomas for many years and I knew it was an outstanding institution.”
Tolman is excited to focus on developing new interdisciplinary experiences for students, especially as the university prepares to open the new Schoenecker Center in 2024.
“The biggest challenges that we face as a society are not simple challenges; they're multidisciplinary and to solve them we're going to have to have approaches that span beyond traditional disciplines,” Tolman said. “The new Schoenecker Center and STEAM building is going to bring people together to solve the most important, pressing problems that we have today.”
