New Chancellor of UCI Vows Education Quality

The University of California regents on Friday named as chancellor of UC Irvine Laurel L. Wilkening, an expert on planetary science from the University of Washington who promised to place a premium on the quality of undergraduate education.

After her appointment was announced at a Board of Regents meeting at UCLA, Wilkening told reporters that she also hopes to work with industry to “improve the economy of the state” and to reach out to local elementary and secondary schools.

But she said it is too soon to be more specific about her plans for UCI’s future, saying she has visited the 17,000-student campus only once--during winter recess when it was deserted. Wilkening is scheduled to begin her new job July 1.

Staff and students at UCI widely praised Wilkening’s appointment, citing her stellar academic and administrative achievements and her rapport with students at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she holds the No. 2 post.

Wilkening, 48, will be the third chancellor in UCI’s 28-year history, succeeding Jack W. Peltason, who left to become president of the UC system in October. She said the relative youth of the school gives it “a spirit to try new directions . . . that might be challenged on a more tradition-bound campus.”

Peltason welcomed Wilkening as “a perfect fit for this stage of Irvine’s development.”

“She is an experienced academic administrator, a respected scientist and an accomplished leader,” he said. “She is a product of the University of California system and understands the critical role UC plays in the development and growth of this state. We were lucky to have persuaded her to join us for this very challenging time our history.”

Peltason said that sex was not a major factor in Wilkening’s selection, despite reports of pressure to increase the number of women leaders in the nine-campus UC system. Currently, UC Santa Barbara’s Barbara S. Uehling is the only woman chancellor.

Wilkening’s appointment puts at least 10 women in highly visible and influential posts at UCI, including two vice chancellors, a dean of biological sciences, director of the medical center, the police chief and the head librarian. Half have moved into those spots in just the past three years.

The announcement was warmly greeted by female faculty members who have been working to expand the list of women leaders at UCI.

Judy Rosener, a professor in the Graduate School of Management who has written extensively on women and leadership, said UCI has become a “flagship” for the advancement of women in academia, setting a valuable example nationwide.

“Large educational institutions, of which we are one, have to show there are women who are capable,” Rosener said. “Once you get three or more, you have a critical mass in which you begin to disabuse people of the notion that to be a leader is to be a male.”

Leo Chavez, a professor of anthropology, said that having Wilkening as a chancellor makes UCI “a little bit of a trendsetter,” since female chancellors are rare.

Wilkening said she did not anticipate any trouble being a woman in the male-dominated top ranks of academia.

“This is California and this is the 20th Century,” she said. Recounting how she often had been the sole woman on research teams, Wilkening joked: “I like working with people, including men.”

Wilkening, a former UC Regents Fellow who took her doctorate in chemistry from UC San Diego, is an expert on asteroids and meteorites. She drew national recognition serving on a federal commission studying the future of U.S. space programs. She was director of the Lunar and Planetary Lab at the University of Arizona. Since 1988, she has served as provost at the University of Washington.

As word of Wilkening’s appointment made its way around campus, student and faculty reaction was positive. David Goldstein-Shirley, president of the graduate students’ association, said most people are “very excited.”

“I feel we’re lucky to have scored this coup,” he said. “It boasts well of UCI that we were able to attract someone of her caliber.”

Rigoberto Rodriguez, president of the undergraduate students’ group, said he was particularly pleased with Wilkening’s selection because of her dedication to the quality of undergraduate education.

As a member of the selection committee, Rodriguez said he called students at the University of Washington, who praised Wilkening for restructuring the undergraduate curriculum to include more small seminars and for being friendly and receptive to student input.

It is anticipated that Wilkening will carry on Peltason’s effort to establish strong relationships between the university and private industry, such as a proposed Center for Health Sciences that would be partially funded by an adjacent industrial park.

Some, like Gilbert G. Gonzalez, have doubts about that path. Gonzalez, a professor of comparative culture, said he worries that stronger ties with industry could skew the university toward subject areas most profitable to business, such as high-technology, medicine and other sciences, leaving disciplines such as humanities with less support.

“A university can begin to function more and more like a business enterprise, concerned more with the cost than with the final product,” he said.

Gary Hunt, executive vice president of the Irvine Co., which has worked closely with Peltason, including involvement in the establishment of UCI’s executive MBA program, said that a “synergistic” relationship between the university and business can benefit both as long as it is properly balanced.

“If a university becomes too introspective, especially in these economic times, I think that could become detrimental to the future growth of the university,” Hunt said.

“To grow and become a great institution, there has to be that type of relationship,” Hunt said, adding that he hopes Wilkening will “continue in that tradition.”

Announcement of Wilkening’s appointment was quickly followed at the regents’ meeting by discussion of possible deep spending cuts and looming student fee increases as a result of Gov. Pete Wilson’s budget plan, announced last week. Wilkening said later the budget troubles did not discourage her, saying Washington is plagued with similar struggles.

UC officials would not say on Friday who else had been a finalist for the job. But knowledgeable sources said the Irvine-based candidates included L. Dennis Smith, executive vice chancellor for academic affairs and acting chancellor, and psychobiologist James McGaugh.

Smith said Friday he believes Wilkening will be “excellent,” noting that he had submitted her name as a possible candidate. He said his years on national panels with experts in space research acquainted him with Wilkening’s work and he was “very impressed,” he said.

Asked if he was disappointed that he was not chosen chancellor, he noted that he will continue as executive vice chancellor, the No. 2 post at UC Irvine.

“I have my hands full,” Smith said.

Wilkening is expected to leave Seattle in the summer to assume her $179,000-a-year job. Until a chancellor’s residence is built on campus, Wilkening and her husband, Godfrey T. Sill, a retired astronomy researcher, will live in the Newport Beach home given to UC Irvine as the chancellor’s home.