August 5, 2005

TO THE CAMPUS COMMUNITY

Dear Colleagues:

After 15 years of extraordinary service as our campus’s NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative, Professor Steven Allaback has decided to devote himself full-time to his distinguished teaching and research career as a member of our English Department faculty.

I want to take this opportunity to express our campus’s sincere appreciation for the time, energy, and care that Dr. Allaback has dedicated to his service as our Faculty Athletics Representative. He has conscientiously and effectively represented our campus at meetings of the Big West Conference and the NCAA. He has chaired the UCSB Intercollegiate Athletics Policy Board, which provides advice to our campus and me on all matters pertaining to intercollegiate athletics, and is responsible for formulating and recommending policy proposals. He has also worked closely with the Student Athlete Advisory Board. From 1992 to 2005, he served as either president or vice president of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, and in 1993-94 and again in 2001-02 as president of the Big West Conference.

Steve has been a consistently strong advocate for our student-athletes, coaches, and administrators. He chaired the search advisory committee that successfully recruited Dr. Gary Cunningham as our current Athletic Director. He was instrumental in rewriting our campus’s Intercollegiate Athletics Mission Statement. During his tenure, UCSB had no major NCAA violations, and our Intercollegiate Athletics Program has consistently graduated student-athletes at among the highest rates in the nation, with U.S. News & World Report ranking us #3 among all U.S. colleges and universities.

Steve’s term of service as Faculty Athletics Representative will conclude on August 31, 2005. I look forward to announcing the appointment of our next NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative in the very near future. In the meantime, please join me in thanking Steve for his exemplary leadership and service, and for his continuing commitment to UCSB.

Sincerely,

Henry T. Yang
Chancellor