July 14, 2009
TO THE CAMPUS COMMUNITY
Dear Colleagues:
I write to announce that after 14 years as our Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement, Professor John M. Wiemann has decided to retire on August 31, 2009. I would like to take this opportunity to express our deep appreciation for John’s distinguished accomplishments and dedicated service to our campus. He has led Institutional Advancement in keeping pace with our rapidly growing, internationally renowned campus, and in supporting our mission of teaching, research, and public service. Dr. Wiemann has also helped to strengthen our relationship with our community, including his leadership in many local organizations.
As we all know, our university is facing tremendous financial challenges. The budget cuts are affecting our campus at every level, including our administration. Following broad consultation, we have decided to postpone the search for our next Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement, so that we can use the resources saved to help protect our core academic mission. My hope is that by reducing our administrative costs, especially at the senior level, we will also be able to reduce the need for additional layoffs.
For the time being, I will take the responsibility to coordinate the collaborative work of the various units within Institutional Advancement to ensure that we can provide vital services by these units, including Development, Public Affairs, Alumni Affairs, Governmental Relations, Community Relations, Public Events, Finance and Administration, and the Economic Forecast Project. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our colleagues in these areas for their willingness to assume additional responsibilities and workload during this challenging time. We appreciate their important contributions and their shared commitment to our campus.
In his role as Vice Chancellor, Dr. Wiemann has led our Office of Institutional Advancement in providing service and leadership to all parts of our campus, with the unique mission of coordinating broad and multi-faceted efforts to advance our institution. I have been honored to work with Vice Chancellor Wiemann as well as our Foundation Trustees, our Deans, and many others on our collaborative fund-raising efforts, which have achieved notable success. Our campus’s first capital campaign -- the Campaign for UC Santa Barbara -- surpassed the $500 million milestone last year and has led to the creation of 55 new endowed chairs (to 79 total) and 139 new graduate fellowships.
In addition to his leadership of Institutional Advancement, John has had a distinguished academic career since joining the faculty of our Department of Communication in 1977. He has been honored as a W. K. Kellogg Foundation National Fellow and a Fulbright-Hays Senior Research Scholar. He has also received a number of other recognitions and awards for his research and teaching on interpersonal and intercultural communication, including the Woolbert Award for Seminal Research in Communication, presented by the National Communication Association.
Please join me in thanking and congratulating Vice Chancellor Wiemann for his contributions to UCSB and the Santa Barbara community. We wish him and his wife, Mary, all the best as they take this exciting next step in their lives.
Sincerely,
Henry T. Yang
Chancellor