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By Rich Elbaum
UC Irvine
UC Irvine Chancellor Laurel L. Wilkening announced this month that she will step down as chancellor next summer and plans to leave the field of higher education.
Under Wilkening's leadership, UCI ascended into the ranks of the nation's leading research universities, jump-started its plan for growth that had been stalled by state budget cuts in the early 1990s, and dramatically increased the amount of private donations and research funding for the campus's faculty and students.
Wilkening, 52, informed University of California President Richard Atkinson of her intention to resign as chancellor effective June 30, 1998, to provide Atkinson with sufficient time to select a successor.
"Chancellor Wilkening has infused the campus with her intellectual vigor and bold imagination, and has taken UCI to new heights of national recognition for its impressive growth in academic quality," Atkinson said.
"She came to UCI with high aspirations and leaves with a superb record of accomplishment. I deeply regret her decision to depart," said Atkinson (full text of Atkinson's statement).
"When I came to UCI in 1993, I set out a number of goals, and I am proud to say that we have accomplished all of them," Wilkening said. "UCI has in place outstanding faculty, students, staff, and community supporters that have put the campus in an enviable position for its next stage of growth.
"Having spent my entire career in higher education, I am now ready to tackle some new challenges in a different arena. I am lucky to be able, at this stage of my life, to work at a grassroots level on some of the specific areas that I have long been concerned about, such as population growth, the global environment, and women's issues," Wilkening said.
Wilkening's immediate plans after stepping down as chancellor will be to relocate back to Arizona, where she and her husband, retired planetary scientist Godfrey Sill, have a home.
During Wilkening's tenure, she successfully steered UCI through its most significant budget cuts ever to its current position of dramatic growth: The campus has more than 250,000 square-feet of construction in process, more than at any other time in its history.
UCI has raised its profile as a leading research university during Wilkening's administration, attracting some of the nation's brightest students. This year, UCI received a record number of applicants for its freshman class. The campus also has raised its profile among other leading universities, being elected to the prestigious, highly selective American Association of Universities in 1996. Private support has increased to more than $30 million in the 1996-97 fiscal year, and federal research grants increased to $137 million last year.
Wilkening also placed a high priority on UCI's students, meeting frequently with small groups of students in her office or at the student center. Last fall, she took time to teach a small-group freshman seminar on astronomy, enabling first-year UCI students to interact with her as a teacher.
She also has led a statewide, federally funded program--based at UCI--designed to help prepare the science, mathematics, and engineering workforce of the next century. The California Alliance for Minority Participation is a $10-million cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.
When Wilkening arrived at UCI in 1993, the campus was grappling with serious reductions in state funding due to California's economic woes.
Within her first year on the job at UCI, Wilkening streamlined the administrative structure, reducing the number of senior administrators and developing improved processes for conducting business. She also created a new academic management structure that brought the academic deans and campus administrators together to address policy issues at an early stage.
In addition to the budgetary challenges early in her UCI tenure, Wilkening also guided the campus through the uncharted territory of investigating the world's first documented cases of alleged extensive fertility fraud at the now-closed UCI Center for Reproductive Health.
In 1994, she initiated the early investigations of the faculty involved, while working within the often conflicting areas of patient rights, academic freedom, and due process. The three doctors involved are now facing federal charges brought by the U.S. Attorney.
In the last two years, Wilkening focused on achieving one of her primary goals: moving UCI into the ranks of America's top 50 research universities. That goal has been achieved in a variety of rankings, including the prestigious National Research Council rankings, where UCI is ranked in the top 30 among all universities and 11th among the nation's public universities.
"Our rankings are the result of the innovation and dedication of our outstanding faculty," Wilkening said. "In addition to our strong veteran faculty members, including two Nobel Laureates, we have in the last few years recruited some of the world's top scholars and scientists to UCI, ensuring the campus's excellence for decades to come."
Under Wilkening's leadership, UCI:
Wilkening became UCI's third chancellor in July 1993. Previously, she had served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of Washington and as vice president for research and dean of the graduate college at the University of Arizona.
A highly regarded planetary scientist, Wilkening has served on various committees and advisory boards for NASA. During the Reagan administration, she was vice chair of the National Commission on Space, and she served as chair of Vice President Quayle's Space Policy Advisory Board.
Wilkening is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Oregon's Reed College, and received a Ph.D. in chemistry from UC San Diego.