San Diego Chancellor to Lead UC

Regents at the University of California elected UC San Diego Chancellor Robert C. Dynes president Wednesday, tapping the physicist and avid runner to lead the prestigious 10-campus system at a time when dwindling revenue and growing enrollment pose heavy challenges.

Dynes, who has headed UC San Diego since 1996, follows the path of the man he succeeded on the San Diego campus, Richard C. Atkinson, who steps down as UC president on Oct. 1.

Before entering academia, the 60-year-old Dynes worked 22 years with AT&T; Bell Labs, where he worked on superconductors and other projects.

“I am elated by the prospect of taking the helm of the premier university in the world, a place where the very best come to learn, teach and create new knowledge,” Dynes told regents after his confirmation was announced.

The Canadian-born, naturalized U.S. citizen was elected unanimously.

Higher education experts said Dynes arrives at a difficult time for UC, which is seeking to preserve its reputation as the leading public university system in the country. Besides wrestling with the consequences of California’s $38-billion budget deficit, UC is struggling to maintain diversity in its student body.

Dynes faces a difficult balancing act between the ban on affirmative action in California and the desire of many politicians and educators to see more underrepresented minority students and academics in the UC system.

He also must contend with the controversies over the university’s management of the Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories. Within months, the university’s leaders must decide whether to compete for a contract to continue running Los Alamos, the nuclear weapons lab that recently has been beset by allegations of mismanagement. Livermore has faced smaller-scale security problems.

In dealing with those flaps, Robert M. Shireman, a senior fellow with the Aspen Institute, which studies higher education, said Dynes’ credentials as a scientist would be an asset. He said it would be useful to have “someone with a physics background testifying before Congress.”

Dynes’ main problem, however, will be coping with recession-related state funding cutbacks, as well as possible reductions in federal money just as the 197,000-student university faces an enrollment boom.

UC regents are expected to vote this summer to raise student fees by at least 24%.

On Wednesday, Dynes acknowledged that the UC system is “caught in a confluence of pressures.” He said UC must serve as a national model; the rest of the country is looking to the system to “lead the way.”

Dynes said flatly that the university will need to raise the fees it charges students for next year, but also said it should establish “a more rational fee structure so parents and students can anticipate costs and not be subject to the [budget’s] boom and bust.”

The incoming president also spoke Wednesday of his concern and regard for undergraduate students, noting that he was flying back to San Diego that night to prepare for this week’s commencement.

The education of young people, he said, “is the single most important thing we do ... and will be our most lasting legacy.”

National Newcomer

Although an accomplished scientist, Dynes is largely an unknown on the national educational policy scene, and thus his selection leaves questions about some of the approaches he will take in his new job.

But many of those who know him vouch for his professional and personal skills.

“We wanted a first-class scholar, a high-level administrator and someone who will be an effective leader in Sacramento and Washington,” said Gayle Binion, the university’s top faculty representative as head of its systemwide academic council. “We feel like we got all three.”

UC Riverside Chancellor France A. Cordova said, “He’s a very strong but gentle presence. He’s enormously respected for his scientific prowess but also has an ability to make people comfortable right away.”

Student representatives were more circumspect, although several said they believed Dynes to be a good choice. Stephen Klass, chairman of the University of California Student Assn. and a senior at UC San Diego, said Dynes was popular with students there.

But he and other students interviewed Wednesday also said Dynes, unlike Atkinson, had not been outspoken in support of diversity.

“We have real concerns about his position on diversity and whether he’s going to be strong enough on these social justice issues,” said Matthew Kaczmarek, a UCLA student and external vice president of the systemwide student association.

Atkinson drew national attention during his eight-year tenure for his successful battle to overhaul the college entrance exam known as the SAT and for his efforts to broaden the university’s admissions policies. Dynes said Wednesday that he supported both efforts.

Dynes, like Atkinson, is a distinguished scientist and longtime member of the National Academy of Sciences.

A runner in his spare time, Dynes assumes the presidency at age 60, six years younger than Atkinson when he took the UC helm, and is expected to approach the job with at least as much energy.

Colleagues say, however, that he is likely to be somewhat more easygoing than Atkinson, who is said to be impatient and short-tempered at times.

The selection of Dynes followed a six-month national search that yielded 300 candidates, UC officials said.

The San Diego chancellor in the end beat out several of his fellow campus leaders, including UCLA’s Albert Carnesale, UC Santa Cruz’s M.R.C. Greenwood and UC Santa Barbara’s Henry T. Yang. There was also at least one external candidate among the finalists, according to several sources: Laura D’Andrea Tyson, dean of the London School of Economics and President Clinton’s former economic advisor.

A nine-member regents committee quietly decided last week to recommend his selection. Regent John Davies, a San Diego attorney who led the committee and kept the choice under wraps until Wednesday, said Dynes was chosen for his academic achievements, his leadership at San Diego and his ability to build a consensus for tough decisions.

“His style is low-key, not boisterous, and that’s what we need for the tough times ahead,” Davies said.

Using Humor

Regent Odessa Johnson said the San Diego chancellor also has an easy ability to get to know people, often using humor to ease his way with prickly constituencies, including the university’s governing board. Dynes, for instance, tells at least one joke at almost every regents’ dinner, she said.

“If he doesn’t tell us a joke, now we all protest,” she said, saying that she and other regents laughingly pounded on their tables at a recent dinner until he relented and came up with one.

Frances Hellman, Dynes’ wife, said he also tells jokes to begin many of his classes, but she “couldn’t guarantee that they’re always good.”

Dynes will earn an annual salary of $395,000, up from Atkinson’s $361,400 but in line with presidents of similar institutions.