PASADENA—The California Institute of Technology is pleased to announce the election of Ronald L. Olson to its Board of Trustees.
A senior partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson in Los Angeles, Olson is both a leading trial lawyer and principal spokesman for alternative dispute resolution. His field of specialization is commercial litigation, including antitrust and securities law.
In addition, Olson counsels individual executives and boards of directors in a range of matters, including corporate governance. He also regularly provides pro bono representation to various community organizations, including Skid Row service providers.
Olson is a director of Berkshire Hathaway, Edison International, the RAND Corporation, and the World Resources Institute, among others. From 1984 until 1994, he was chairman of the Claremont University Center and Graduate School.
Olson received his BS from Drake University in 1963, his JD from the University of Michigan in 1966, and a diploma in law from Oxford University, England, in 1967, at which time he was the recipient of a Ford Foundation fellowship. He and his wife, Jane, live in Pasadena.
Founded in 1891, Caltech has an enrollment of some 2,000 students, and a faculty of about 280 professorial members and 284 research members. The Institute has more than 19,000 alumni. Caltech employs a staff of more than 1,700 on campus and 5,300 at JPL.
Over the years, 26 Nobel Prizes and four Crafoord Prizes have been awarded to faculty members and alumni. Forty-three Caltech faculty members and alumni have received the National Medal of Science; and eight alumni (two of whom are also trustees), two additional trustees, and one faculty member have won the National Medal of Technology. Since 1958, 13 faculty members have received the annual California Scientist of the Year award. On the Caltech faculty there are 75 fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and on the faculty and Board of Trustees, 68 members of the National Academy of Sciences and 46 members of the National Academy of Engineering.
