Bart J. Kowallis has accepted an appointment by Academic Vice President John S. Tanner as associate dean of the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences at Brigham Young University effective July 1. He replaces Dana T. Griffen, who will retire Aug. 31.
Kowallis completed an undergraduate degree in geology at BYU in 1977. He finished his graduate work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1981, receiving both master’s and doctoral degrees.
He joined the BYU Department of Geology in 1982, where he has taught classes in physical geology, structural geology, field geology and physical science. He also served as chair of the department from 1996-2002.
His research and publications focus on geochronology, stratigraphy and structural geology, particularly of Utah’s Mesozoic-era rocks. Since 2001, Kowallis and his students have mapped the south and north flanks of the Uinta Mountains in cooperation with the Utah Geological Survey and United States Geological Survey.
He is a fellow of the Geological Society of America and was honored by BYU with an Alcuin General Education Teaching Award in 1986 and a Karl G. Maeser General Education Professorship in 2003.
