Herbert Killackey is the former Vice Provost for Academic Personnel at UCI and professor of Neurobiology & Behavior and Anatomy & Neurobiology. For twenty-five years, his research focused on the organization and development of the somatosensory system. From 1989 to 1998, he was chair of his department. In 1998, he joined the central administration at UCI. He is a co-principal investigator of the UCI ADVANCE program funded by the NSF and is currently Principal investigator of a second NSF ADVANCE award aimed at sharing procedures developed at UCI for ensuring gender equity at UCI with sister institutions in Southern California. He is firmly committed to the goal of gender equity and believes it to be an essential part of the quest for excellence in all of academia.