UC Names Santa Cruz Chancellor as Provost, 1st Woman to Take the System’s No. 2 Position

Regents of the University of California on Monday appointed UC Santa Cruz Chancellor M.R.C. Greenwood as the university’s systemwide provost and senior vice president of academic affairs. She is the first woman to be named to the post, the UC system’s No. 2 job.

Greenwood, a biologist considered a national leader in science and higher education policy, has led the Santa Cruz campus since 1996. As provost, she will succeed C. Judson King, who served in the position since 1995. He announced his retirement in June.

In making the announcement, UC President Robert C. Dynes praised Greenwood’s energy and accomplishments, saying he looked forward to her arrival as his “sidekick” at UC headquarters in Oakland.

Dynes said he had to work hard to persuade Greenwood to accept the job.

Greenwood said Dynes convinced her that her experience and skills were needed at a time of significant challenges for the university, beginning with the state’s budget crisis and recently proposed cuts and fee increases for UC.

Dynes “persuaded me that the University of California as a whole was facing some very turbulent waters ... and to get out of it, you need as much experience as you can get,” she said.

Greenwood, 60, who is known to friends and colleagues as Marci, was approved unanimously by the regents on telephone tie-ins around the state in a special meeting.

But several expressed concern over her $380,000 salary -- nearly $100,000 more than King’s.

Dynes said the salary was necessary because Greenwood has lived in university-provided housing in Santa Cruz and would not enjoy such benefits in her new position.

Greenwood served as dean of graduate studies at UC Davis before she was named chancellor at UC Santa Cruz. Before that, she was a professor and administrator at New York’s Vassar College and Columbia University in New York City.