Dr. Howard Landesman was born in 1938 in Brooklyn, New York. When he was two years old his family moved to Los Angeles, California and has been there since. He attended Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles where he served as student body President. Following graduation, he attended UCLA. In 1958 he began his dental education at the University of Southern California (USC) School of Dentistry and graduated in 1962. After graduation, he was commissioned as a Captain in the United States Air Force and spent two years in Misawa, Japan. Dr. Landesman then moved to Huntington Beach, California where he practiced general dentistry and also taught at USC one day per week. In 1971 he was awarded an American Fund for Dental Education Fellowship and he returned to the USC School of Dentistry where he received specialty training in prosthodontics, and at the same time, received a Master's Degree from the School of Education. In 1973 he was named the co-director of the graduate prosthodontics program with Dr. Alex Koper. Subsequently, Dr. Landesman served as Chair of the Department of Restorative Dentistry, Associate Dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs, and as Executive Associate Dean. In 1991 he began his tenure as Dean.

Recently, Dr. Landesman accepted a new job. On July 1, 1999 he will take on a new challenge as Dean of the University of Colorado School of Dentistry. He stated that he is leaving USC "...with feelings of great emotion." During Dr. Landesman's deanship at USC, the school's endowment increased by approximately 17 million dollars, endowed chairs and professorships increased to nine, a 40,000 square foot renovation of the facility was comp- leted, and a parallel-track DDS problem-based learning (PBL) program was initiated. Dr. Landesman is excited about being part of a team working toward the creation of "...a dynamic 21st Century health sciences campus..." at Colorado.

Dr. Landesman has an identical twin brother who spent many years as a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is currently Vice President of mathematics construction at Academic Systems, a company that develops interactive multimedia mathematics courseware. Dr. Landesman is very devoted to his 96 year old mother, his wife Lynne, and their daughter, Lori. As any father should, he proudly stated that his daughter earned three degrees: one in English, one in Mathematics, and a Master's Degree in Instructional Technology. She works for Netscape Communications. Dr. Landesman's hobbies include computers, ham radio, and the installation of home video projection systems. These hobbies keep his love for electronics alive.