A distinguished chemistry professor with over 45 years of experience teaching at the university level, Dallas Rabenstein earned a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from the University of Washington in 1964 and, three years later, completed his PhD in the subject at the University of Wisconsin. Dallas Rabenstein began his teaching career the following year and, in 1969, accepted a position as an assistant professor with the University of Alberta.

Dr. Rabenstein taught chemistry at the Canadian university for 16 years, during which time he was appointed as Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada as a result of his extensive research in analytical chemistry. Dallas Rabenstein also earned Canada's Fisher Scientific Award and servedas a visiting professor at both the University of Oxford and the University of Western Ontario.

Since 1985, Dallas Rabenstein has held various positions at the University of California. He began as a faculty member for a period of 12 years, during which time he mentored numerous PhD chemistry students and conducted research funded by organizations such as the National Institutes of Health, the California Cancer Research Coordinating Committee, and the National Science Foundation. He continued teaching as a distinguished professor from 1997 to 2014, while spending brief periods as the interim dean of the school's College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences as well as its Agricultural Experiment Station. Since 2014, he has served as a graduate division professor and executive vice chancellor and provost.