UC President Names New San Diego Chancellor

Marye Anne Fox, a noted chemist and the chancellor of North Carolina State University, has been chosen to take the helm of UC San Diego.

Fox, 56, has led North Carolina State for six years. Before that, she was with the University of Texas at Austin, where she spent 22 years and rose from assistant professor of organic chemistry to vice president for research.

Fox, who earned her doctorate at Dartmouth College, is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

UC President Robert C. Dynes, who was chancellor of UC San Diego until taking his current job in October, said Friday in a prepared statement that Fox “is widely regarded as a fine teacher and mentor, a dedicated researcher, and a seasoned administrator of a large and active public research institution.”

Dennis M. Daley, chairman of North Carolina State’s faculty senate, said: “Our general opinion is she’s been doing a pretty good job.... Her strengths have always been on the outside game of the university -- representing the university to the Legislature, to the people of the state, doing the public relations.”

But Fox’s UC appointment, subject to the approval of the Board of Regents on April 12, comes just a little over a year after Fox was censured by North Carolina State’s faculty senate for firing two vice provosts.

Daley said he and other faculty members were upset by Fox’s decision to fire the vice provosts, who she felt were moving on her initiatives too slowly. “Our view was that she had made a mistake,” Daley said of the decision to censure Fox. “The feeling was that she [was] doing a lot of good things, and she just did this one big mistake that needed to be dealt with.”

A UC spokeswoman said Fox’s salary at UC San Diego has not been set. Fox could not be reached for comment.