Carnesale to step down
by cynthia lee
today staff Writer
In the past, when Chancellor Albert Carnesale thought about how long he should stay at the helm at UCLA, a decade always sounded about right to him.
But this month, he announced his decision to step down one year earlier than planned. At the end of this academic year, June 30, 2006, Carnesale will return to his field of international affairs and national security policy. Visiting Washington recently and participating in seminars at the Aspen Institute on international terrorism, the rising power of China, and U.S. public diplomacy in the Middle East convinced him that it was the right time to re-focus his expertise in the global arena.
Feeling a desire to reconnect with the policy community, he also began to see 2006 as an optimal time to leave Murphy Hall. Campaign UCLA concludes in December and has raised nearly $3 billion. It is one of the most successful fund-raising drives ever launched by a research university. Seismic refurbishment of campus buildings and the transformation of the campus from a commuter school to a residence university are now realities. And after several years of lean and difficult financial times, the economic picture for UCLA seems brighter and the state’s contribution to UCLA’s budget is rising.
“Now is the time to pass the baton with a sense of pride in all that we have accomplished at UCLA,” Carnesale said. “It is a world-class university, thanks to the incredible people at UCLA. My wife, Robin, and our family are looking forward to our new life. We expect that the next Chancellor will receive as much pleasure, challenge, and sense of pride in serving this outstanding institution as we have.”
After taking a sabbatical to study and reconnect with scholars and policymakers in international affairs and security, Chancellor Carnesale plans to return to UCLA to teach, conduct research, and engage in the policymaking process. His specialty is the control of weapons of mass destruction, and he will keep both of his appointments in the School of Public Affairs and the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science.
“My scholarly work has focused on public policy issues that have a substantial technological dimension, so both of those affiliations are important to me,” he said.
This year, he will bring his expertise to the FBI’s new National Security Higher Education Advisory Board, a group of 15 presidents and chancellors of prominent U.S. universities. These leaders will advise the FBI on research the agency might sponsor at universities to assist the national security effort as well as sensitize the agency to the culture and values of academia.
Carnesale’s leadership at UCLA has led to strengthening its foundations as a great university, concentrating on excellence, and crossing academic boundaries — three of the strategies he formulated early in his administration as means by which to ensure that UCLA is one of the great universities, public or private.
During his tenure, Carnesale created the Office of Faculty Diversity and made information technology a campuswide priority. Under his watch, two ethnic studies departments were created: the Department of Asian American Studies and the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies. And UCLA has become a model for UC campuses because of its efficient and effective administrative business practices.
As state resources declined, UCLA’s development and research enterprise has made demonstrable progress. Research support doubled during Carnesale’s tenure, from $410 million in competitively awarded grants and contracts to $821 million this year. While Campaign UCLA nears its close, the chancellor’s initiative, “Ensuring Academic Excellence,” has made rapid progress in meeting its objective — raising funds for professorships, fellowships, and scholarships to help recruit and retain top faculty and students. The university has already raised more than $100 million toward the $250-million goal.
“I owe a great debt of gratitude to the work of an outstanding leadership team, the commitment and support of so many donors and community leaders, as well as the thousands of superb faculty, students and staff,” Carnesale said. “I look forward to leading this great university throughout this year, and to being a member of the UCLA family forever.” |
