Dean Paul B. Bell Jr.

In August of 2007, Dean Bell will began his 11th year as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, making him the fifth-longest serving dean among the 15 people who have held the position since 1909.

Bell graduated from Washington University, St. Louis, Mo. and attended the University of Missouri at St. Louis, Mo. before earning his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1975 in Biology. He was a post-doctorate fellow at Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, in 1974 and the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena from 1974-76 in Biology. From 1976 to 1979, Bell served as an adjunct professor in Biology at UCLA and a research fellow at Cal Tech.

His research interests include mechanisms and control of cell motility; cellular basis of morphogenetic movements; cell cytoskeleton in cellular morphogenesis; cell contact in social behavior; specimen preparation for scanning and transmission electron microscopy.

Along with his duties as dean of the largest and oldest college on the OU campus, Dean Bell also serves as Vice Provost for Instruction and is an active professor in the Department of Zoology. He recently was elected as a member of the Board of Directors of the Committee on Research Institutes of the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences. To learn more, visit his Web site.