August 14, 2024
Dear Members of Our Campus Community,
It is with the greatest honor and appreciation that I write to share that I have decided to step down as Chancellor at the end of the coming academic year and return to teaching, research, and service as a professor.
I want to proudly thank each of you – our faculty, staff, students, administrators, alumni, parents, trustees, friends, and supporters – for your partnership, support, and guidance as we have worked together to advance our campus to where we are today.
I also want to express my gratitude for the support and leadership of President Drake and former Presidents at UCOP, as well as all of the UC Regents, for supporting me and our campus throughout my tenure.
I especially want to thank my wife, Dilling, for her role as Associate of the Chancellor, selflessly supporting our community without compensation twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. She has been tirelessly helping to host every trustees meeting, helping students move in every fall, and participating in the life of the campus in every way. As an example, we started the Chancellor’s Regional Receptions program to travel to major cities around the state, Central Valley, Midwest, and East Coast to recruit admitted students with diversity and excellence. As a volunteer, Dilling has worked devotedly with our hardworking and highly committed staff, faculty, students, and alumni for all 136 receptions over the years. She has also established the Dilling Yang Staff Scholarship to help advance the careers of our staff colleagues.
Dilling and I have such pleasure in talking with students, staff, faculty, and visitors during our daily walks on campus and, on weekends, seeing students and sometimes taking selfies together in Isla Vista. We have shared so much joy with students during happy and festive times, and also shared our grief during a few tragic and painful times. We have been crying, hugging, healing, hoping, and smiling together.
I remember that during my first year on campus, I invited all faculty members to one hundred lunches, eight faculty members per lunch, within the first year. I sought advice to find a shared vision, which has since guided me and the direction of the campus to where we are today. Another series of lunch meetings, which were halted during the pandemic, laid the foundation for our award-winning classroom building with 2,000 seats for interactive learning.
It has been such a wonderful journey of life to serve and work with you to advance our campus, with the highest stature of excellence, diversity, and significant access to our campus. We have all benefited from thorough consultation and consensus building on campus matters.
Our faculty have won so many accolades, awards, and honors across all disciplines, including, for example, six Nobel Prizes (plus one more to our alumna), National Medals, the Pulitzer Prize, and many more. Our campus has ranked as high as #5 among all public universities in the country by both U.S News and Forbes Magazine in recent years, with parallel high rankings in the Diversity Index. We have become a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), and also been recognized as the first Hispanic-Serving Institution of AAU. Our annual fundraising totals have reached $167 million this past year, up from $10.5 million when I started. Our annual research grants have increased from $81.2 million to $267.2 million last year.
Even with this progress, there remains much more to accomplish in the year ahead. I look forward to working collaboratively on a long list, such as planning for our next long-range development plan and capital campaign, several philanthropic buildings, ongoing recruitment and retention of faculty and staff, student and workforce housing, campus climate, Isla Vista improvements, increased access for students from diverse backgrounds, and much more.
In addition to my administrative service, I have always loved teaching and research, and have been able to teach in person at least one course every year. It was very meaningful to me to receive an Honorary Distinguished Teaching Award from the Academic Senate. I have guided 57 PhD theses (including 12 from UCSB), all funded by NSF, NASA, and federal funding agencies, and have authored and co-authored 195 journal papers and a textbook.
Serving as the Chancellor of UC Santa Barbara has been the highest honor of my career. I look forward to returning to the classroom and lab after this academic year, and continuing to support our unparalleled community of students, faculty, and staff to the best of my abilities.
Go Gauchos!
With all my heartfelt thankfulness,
Henry T. Yang
Chancellor
