05/06/2026
Yesterday, we gathered to honor two longtime faculty members, Dr. Lisa Urry, Professor of Biology, and Dr. Darcelle Lahr, Professor of Practice, who have dedicated over 40 cumulative years to Mills College, as they embark on a new chapter – retirement!
Lisa retires from Mills after thirty years of teaching and scholarship. At Mills, she taught courses across the full range of her discipline, including introductory biology, developmental biology, and senior seminars. She also served as Chair of the Biology Department and held an appointment as Visiting Scholar at UC Berkeley throughout much of her tenure. Her commitment to expanding access to science for women and underrepresented minorities shaped the choices she made, in hiring, in advising, and in the design of her courses. As lead author of the textbook, Campbell Biology, she has reached over fourteen million students globally. Now in its 13th edition, the book has been translated into over 20 languages and is utilized in over 60% of college biology courses and 90% of AP Biology courses in the United States.
After 14 years of teaching, scholarship, and civic leadership, Darcelle has left her mark on Mills and the communities surrounding it. She came to the Lokey School of Business and Public Policy having already built careers in mechanical engineering, management consulting, and nonprofit leadership. In the classroom, Darcelle taught Leadership and Ethics, Social Impact Consulting, Social Entrepreneurship, Business and Society, and the capstone MBA Strategic Management course. She has been a significant voice in the Black reparations movement in California and nationally, bringing her research on economic justice to academic and policy audiences alike, including at UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy. She directed the Center for Transformative Action and held the Elfenworks Lectureship in Leadership and Ethics, a fitting appointment for someone whose career has been an extended argument that ethics and practice can’t be separated.
Though we will miss Lisa and Darcelle here on campus, we know they will continue to make an impact in the Oakland community and beyond! Congratulations!
