October 25, 1995 Contact: Elizabeth Irwin (408/459-2495)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

UCSC CHANCELLOR KARL S. PISTER ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

SANTA CRUZ, CA--Karl S. Pister, Chancellor of the University of California, Santa Cruz since August 1991, has announced his intention to retire, effective June 30, 1996. Chancellor Pister included the announcement in his address to the UC Santa Cruz Academic Senate this afternoon.

Dr. Pister was first named to the UCSC chancellor position for an interim two-year appointment. In March 1992, with the enthusiastic support of faculty and staff, the Regents approved the president's recommendations for a regular appointment. He is the sixth chancellor in the history of UC Santa Cruz. Last July, the Regents voted to extend his appointment by two years.

Among his comments to the Academic Senate, Chancellor Pister said, "This has been a very difficult decision for both Rita (his wife) and myself. Coming to Santa Cruz, we were totally unprepared for the warmth and graciousness extended to us by the campus and the community over these last four years." Although noting his plan to retire, Chancellor Pister emphasized, "The academic year is just beginning. Lest there be any uncertainty, I intend to exercise my responsibility as Chancellor with all the vigor and effectiveness that I am able to muster. I look forward to another productive and rewarding year for UC Santa Cruz." At the end of his address, Chancellor Pister received prolonged applause from the assembly of faculty, staff and students.

Dr. Pister's achievements as chancellor include vigorous support of excellence in teaching, research and public service, initiation of numerous projects in partnership with other segments of education, and significant leadership in the Ft. Ord base conversion project.

Campus academic programs have thrived during Chancellor Pister's administration. U.S. News and World Report recently ranked UC Santa Cruz as 13th--ahead of Harvard and many other well- respected universities--in a survey listing the nation's top universities where the faculty "has an unusually strong commitment to undergraduate teaching. The 1995 National Research Council Survey of Research Doctoral Programs placed four of UCSC's academic boards in the top 25% , with Astrophysics and Astronomy and Linguistics ranked sixth and tenth, respectively.

The campus has benefited also from record numbers of research contracts, grants and private donations, with three new endowed chairs established and nearly $10 million in private gifts received in the last year. Academic excellence also has been recognized through an invitation to participate in the prestigious Packard Fellowship program, in which faculty members received $500,000 fellowships in the past two consecutive years.

An ardent advocate for increased public investment in education and an outspoken champion for increasing the ethnic diversity of the campus, Chancellor Pister has dedicated UC Santa Cruz resources to improving educational opportunities for young people throughout this region. Among UCSC's successful outreach programs inspired and supported by Chancellor Pister is the Monterey Bay Educational Consortium, a unique effort to encourage collaborations among UC Santa Cruz, public schools and other educational groups in the Monterey Bay Area. The project facilitates the availability to schools of UCSC resources in teacher training and educational research, especially in math and science.

To expand opportunities for a university education through linkages with 13 neighboring community colleges, Chancellor Pister founded the Leadership Opportunity Awards program, which offers scholarships in the amount of $20,000, plus summer work opportunities, to outstanding community college transfer students. Funded entirely by private donations, 32 of these scholarships have been awarded over the past three years.

Chancellor Pister also has earned a reputation as a catalyst for other types of regional collaboration, most notably through his leadership in the Ft. Ord base conversion project. The Monterey Bay Education, Science and Technology (MBEST) Center is operated by UCSC and rooted in partnerships with CSU Monterey Bay and various area governments and agencies. It is being developed now as a major resource for regional economic development. Part of a military-base conversion effort that was praised as a national model by President Clinton during his recent visit, the Center will focus on issues of environmental science, technology, and instrumentation, biotechnologies, information sciences and technologies, and educational and entertainment materials. The first project on the site was hazardous materials removal training for workers who subsequently were hired to assist with Ft. Ord clean up as part of the base conversion process.

Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley from 1980 until his appointment at UC Santa Cruz, Chancellor Pister began his distinguished career with the University of California as a Lecturer in Civil Engineering at UC Berkeley in 1947. He graduated in 1945 with a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering (with honors) from UC Berkeley, where he also earned a master of science degree in civil engineering. In 1952, he earned a doctoral degree in theoretical and applied mechanics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Pister specialized in the mechanics of solids and structures, earthquake engineering, and computer-aided design of dynamic structures. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. In 1993, the American Association for the Advancement of Science appointed him as Chair of the Section on Engineering.

Chancellor Pister will be joined in retirement by his wife Rita Olsen Pister. They are the parents of six children and grandparents of five.

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