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By President Richard C. Atkinson
UC Office of the President
Dr. Laurel L. Wilkening has informed me of her decision to resign as chancellor of the Irvine campus, effective June 30, 1998.
Chancellor Wilkening has led the campus in the finest academic tradition since joining UCI in 1993. She is a brilliant scientist and an extraordinary administrator who came to UCI with high aspirations and leaves with a superb record of accomplishment. I deeply regret her decision to depart.
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. One of her deepest commitments has been to students and to giving them a world-class education. She has forged a strong alliance with regional and community leaders that will benefit the campus far into the future. She also enjoys the highest regard of the Board of Regents, her fellow chancellors, and her colleagues in the Office of the President. During her tenure, Chancellor Wilkening was confronted with several challenges of enormous difficulty. She met them with a courage and integrity that earned the admiration of all those who know her.
Chancellor Wilkening will be greatly missed by her many friends on the Irvine campus, within the University of California system, and in the state. The university owes Chancellor Wilkening a tremendous debt of gratitude for her remarkable contributions to UCI, which will be long remembered. We look forward to her continued strong leadership of the UCI campus during the next 11 months.