Candidate for
Mayor; City of Berkeley

Shirley Dean has lived in Berkeley for about 50 years. She attended Berkeley public schools, graduated from Berkeley High School and received a Bachelor's degree with honors in Social Welfare at UC Berkeley. She retired in 2000 from her job in the Office of Undergraduate Admission and Relations with Schools at UC Berkeley, and has received two Distinguished Service Awards from the campus for her work.

Following a long history of involvement in Berkeley civic affairs, she was first elected citywide to the Berkeley City Council in 1975 and served until 1982. From 1986 to 1994 she was again elected to the Council representing the newly-created District 5 in North Berkeley.

Elected Mayor of the City of Berkeley in 1994 and re-elected to a second term 1998, she currently serves as the Chair of the East Bay Public Safety Corridor Partnership composed of Mayors, City Managers, County Administrators, Police Chiefs, and School Superintendents of cities along the 75 mile I-80 corridor from the Carquinez Bridge to Fremont. She chaired the Alameda County Conference of Mayors in 2000-2001 and serves on the Executive Board for Alameda County's Economic Development Alliance for Business (EDAB). She is Berkeley's representative to ABAG (Association of Bay Area Governments) and was appointed to the the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) to represent East Bay Cities. She also serves as a member of the Alameda County Transportation Improvement Authority appointed by the Alameda County Conference of Mayors. Mayor Dean is co-convener with UC Chancellor Robert Berdahl of the Berkeley Alliance, a partnership of the City of Berkeley, UC Berkeley and the Berkeley Unified School District dedicated to improving the quality of life in our community mainly through activities that assist children and youth. She is a member of the Community Partnership Board of the U.C. School of Social Welfare and on the Measure E Advisory Committee to the Peralta College District.

In June, 2000, the President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors appointed Mayor Dean and Boston Mayor Tom Menino as co-chairs of its "Technology in Schools" policy team. She has served as chair the U.S. Conference of Mayors Standing Committee on Cities and Economic Policy. In 2002, she was elected by her fellow Mayors from across the United States to serve on the U.S. Conference of Mayors Advisory Board and was appointed Chair of the Conference's Task Force on Cities and the University.