After 24 years of dedicated service to UC Davis, Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef announced Monday he will be stepping down at the end of next year. Since becoming chancellor in 1994, Vanderhoef has established a relationship with the student body and is sure to be missed.
Vanderhoef has been a long-trusted constant on the Davis campus and will leave behind a void difficult for any successor to fill. His decision to return as a professor of plant biology after a year-long sabbatical is consistent with the dedication and devotion he has time after time shown the students of Davis.
The chancellor has continuously exhibited a loyal commitment to the university as he oversaw its transformation into a premier research institution. Under Chancellor Vanderhoef, UC Davis reached new heights of national prestige and significantly expanded by adding 4 million square feet of classroom, lab, clinical, performance and office space.
Despite his position as the longest-serving chancellor in the UC system, Vanderhoef receives only the seventh highest salary of the 10 chancellors. It is likely that his successor will request a pay increase – something for which the budget has little room.
The one bump along the road during Vanderhoef’s time as chancellor came in 2006 during the Celeste Rose scandal when it was discovered that he gave Rose a six-figure salary with no official duties allegedly in exchange for dropping a discrimination lawsuit. The Academic Senate subsequently attempted a vote of no confidence which failed by a significant margin. Vanderhoef has since worked diligently and successfully to regain the campus community’s trust.
Chancellor Vanderhoef’s service to the hundreds of thousands of students who have passed through the university’s doors during his term as chancellor has forever endeared him into the heart and soul of this campus. His vision for the future of this institution has been instrumental in its evolution from Berkeley’s farm school into a world renowned interdisciplinary research university with its own distinctive identity. For his leadership we thank him, for his devotion we appreciate him and for his accomplishments we are forever grateful.XXX
