April 10, 2002
To the Campus Community
I am very happy to inform you that our Vice Chancellor of Research, Dr. France Córdova, has been named as UC Riverside’s seventh chancellor, effective July 1, 2002. It is a great loss for UCSB. But this honorable appointment by the University of California’s Board of Regents, based on President Richard Atkinson’s recommendation, provides an excellent opportunity for France.
For nearly six years, while she served as our Vice Chancellor for Research, Dr. France Córdova has provided strong leadership to our campus, with tremendous success. For example, the annual extramural research awards to UCSB have steadily increased, from $78.5 million six years ago to $125 million today. Not only has she made contributions to fostering the development of an exciting research environment that is interdisciplinary and inclusive, she has helped establish significant new research opportunities for both undergraduates and graduate students. She also has made valuable contributions to the academic, administrative, fund-raising, and student affairs of the campus.
I feel happy and excited, and pleased and proud, that UC Riverside is gaining an outstanding leader as its next chancellor. But this news is also bittersweet to those of us at UCSB, because we are losing a dear colleague and friend.
I will be forming a search committee to begin a national search for this important position.
Please join me in congratulating France as well as thanking her for all she has done for UCSB.
Sincerely,
Henry T. Yang
Chancellor