BERKELEY, CA -- Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory has named Ronald R. Kolb, formerly director of News and Public Affairs for the University of California Office of the President, as its head for communications.
Kolb, 47, will be responsible for public information programs at the Laboratory, including media relations, institutional publications, and internal and external communications. He was appointed following a national search.
A former daily newspaper reporter and editor at the Riverside (CA) Press-Enterprise, Kolb worked from 1974 to 1984 at UC Riverside, where he was manager of Information Services. He also taught in UC Riverside's creative writing program.
Kolb moved to the UC President's Office, then in Berkeley, in 1984 as director of News and Communications, overseeing all media relations, print, broadcast and internal communications functions for the nine-campus system's headquarters.
In 1988, he was named director of News and Public Affairs, in which his duties included community and public relations activities, in particular coordinating outreach and information efforts in the search for a 10th UC campus site in the San Joaquin Valley.
He also developed and managed the communications program for the Keck Observatory in Hawaii, home of the world's largest optical telescope, and coordinated university-wide efforts to celebrate UC's 125th anniversary in 1993.
Since leaving the University in 1993, Kolb has conducted a detailed analysis of communications programs at LBL and assisted in the development of the Laboratory's first comprehensive communications plan. As a communications consultant for several clients, he also provided writing, editing and strategic planning services.
LBL is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory located in Berkeley, California. It conducts unclassified scientific research and is managed by the University of California.