UC Santa Barbara Chancellor Yang stepping down
After three decades on the job, UC Santa Barbara Chancellor Henry Yang announced Aug. 14 that he is stepping down at the end of the coming academic year.
Yang is the longest-serving Chancellor in UC history, having held the title at UCSB since 1994.
“It is with the greatest honor and appreciation that I write to share that I have decided to … return to teaching, research, and service as a professor,” Yang, who was named the university’s fifth chancellor in March 1994, said in a memo.
Yang thanked UC President Michael Drake and the former Presidents at the University of California Office of the President, as well as all of the UC Regents, for supporting him throughout his tenure,” he said.
“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,” Yang said.
“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,” he said.
Yang said he remembered that during my first year on campus, he 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,” he said.
Another series of lunch meetings, which were halted during the pandemic, laid the foundation for the university’s award-winning classroom building with 2,000 seats for interactive learning, Yang said.
“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,” Yang said.
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