Professional Timeline

Introduction

Chapter 1 -- Youth and Lessons Learned

1951-1955—Brigham Young University: B.S., Political Science, History, and Geography

1955-57—United States Army: Intelligence Services, East Asia

1957-59—University of California, Berkeley: M.A., Political Science

1958-60—California Farm Bureau: Administrative Assistant, Personnel Manager, Principal Assistant to Chief Administrative Officer

1960-62—University of California, Berkeley: California Alumni Association Field and Scholarship Director

1963-64—University of California, Berkeley: Founding Director, California Alumni Foundation

Comment: Observed first-hand President Clark Kerr’s and University of California, Berkeley Chancellor Glenn Seaborg’s interactions with alumni and other constituent groups such as service clubs, editorial boards, and persons of influence; in 1960, traveled with President Kerr throughout California as he built public support for the California Master Plan for Higher Education.

1962-66—University of California, Berkeley: Ph.D., Higher Education

Comment: Doctoral education emphasized the history of ideas; the founding and evolution of universities in the Western world; the changing nature and character of students and the professoriate over the centuries; the development of academic freedoms; the finance, administration, and governance of universities over time; and since the 12th century, the shifting nature of the university’s place and position in social, cultural, religious, demographic, and political contexts.  

Chapter 2 -- Apprenticeship Years

1964-67—University of California, Santa Barbara: Assistant to the Chancellor, Assistant Professor of Higher Education (1966)

Comment: Assistant to the Chancellor for development, public, press, and alumni affairs.  Served as a member of Chancellor’s Cabinet.  Learned how the campus worked and how it interacted with the Office of the President as well as with its various publics, especially during times of student protest.  Completed dissertation on the California loyalty oath controversy and prepared the manuscript for publication by the University of California Press in 1967.  This research benefitted from the insights of several University of California vice presidents, President Emeritus Robert Gordon Sproul, President Clark Kerr, UC Berkeley Chancellor Glenn Seaborg, and the professoriate across the University of California campuses; and revealed the inner workings of the university and its private and public lives.

1967—The California Oath Controversy (Berkeley: University of California Press) http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001451640

1967-69—University of California, Santa Barbara: Assistant Chancellor

1969-70—University of California, Santa Barbara: Vice Chancellor-Executive Assistant, Associate Professor of Higher Education

Comment: After an idyllic first few years, the difficult and stressful years of student protest against the Viet Nam war and the University, from 1968 to 1970, proved to be especially trying although highly instructive.

1971-73—University of California, Office of the President: Vice President for UC’s Extended University and Public Service Programs; and University Dean of University Extension; also University of California, Santa Barbara: Professor of Higher Education

Comment: Worked for President Charles Hitch to create the Extended University and an array of public service programs, as well as overseeing the University of California’s Continuing Education Program.  Interacted with the universitywide Academic Senate and chancellors on all nine campuses and was a member of President Hitch’s Cabinet concerned with the University of California’s operations worldwide.

Chapter 3--Serving the University of Utah

1973-83—University of Utah: President, Professor of Higher Education

Comment: Final responsibility for management, governance, and legislative issues at a single campus provided a broadened experience, especially when comparing and contrasting the University of Utah’s operations with those of the University of California and its nine campuses.  Improving relations with the governor and legislature led to better state funding, supporting growth in research, health sciences enrollments, graduate and professional programs, and facilities to support these and other needs.  Other improvements included more stringent requirements for undergraduate admission.     

1978-2004—Tanner Lectures on Human Values: Founding Trustee; Chairman (1978-1983). Annual lectureships at the University of Utah; University of Michigan; Harvard University; Stanford University; Clare Hall, Cambridge University; and Brasenose College, Oxford University.  Universities added in more recent years include the University of California, Berkeley; Princeton University; and Yale University.  

1979—Higher Education and Government: An Uneasy Alliance, co-editor with W. Todd Furniss (Washington, DC: American Council on Education)

1981-83—United States, National Commission on Student Financial Assistance: member representing the American Council on Education.  Publication: Signs of Trouble and Erosion: a Report on Graduate Education in America (New York: The Commission, 1983) http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000289029

1982-83—National Collegiate Athletic Association: Chairman, Select Commission on Athletic Concerns in Higher Education

Chapter 4--A Nation at Risk

1981-83—U.S. Department of Education, Chairman, National Commission on Excellence in Education

Comment: Appointed by U. S. Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell.  Observations on President Ronald Reagan’s buy-in of this report, its ensuing effect on education throughout the United States, and subsequent contacts on this report with Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton.  In March and April, 1983, while putting finishing touches on the report and negotiating final language with Commission members, simultaneously was deciding on whether to stay or leave the presidency of the University of Utah and join the University of California as president: changes, conflicts, challenges, and complexity.

1983—A Nation at Risk: the Imperative for Educational Reform, A Report to the Nation and the Secretary of Education, United States Department of Education, by The National Commission on Excellence in Education (Washington, DC: Department of Education, April 1893/

Chapter 5--Back to the Blue and Gold

1983-92—University of California: President; University of California, Berkeley: Professor, Graduate School of Education 

Comment: With the leadership lessons noted above, was reintroduced to the complexities and politics of a multi-campus system.  How had the University of California changed since 1973?

Chapter 6--The Workings of the University and the Crucial First Year

Comment: Worked to understand the University’s current issues of governance and management, the state of the campuses, the performance of the chancellors and the vice presidents, the workings of the Universitywide Academic Senate, and how best to interact with staff, students, and regents.  Successfully negotiated with Governor George Deukmejian and the Legislature a permanent 32% increase in the 1984-85 University of California operating budget, thus reversing in one year the University’s losses incurred over the prior 16 years under Governors Ronald Reagan and Jerry Brown.

Chapter 7--The University on the Move

Comment: Presidential initiatives had an effect on research and education at the University of California, for example, expanding international education and the UC Education Abroad Program; fostering research initiatives (including humanities research); building the world’s largest optical telescope in collaboration with the California Institute of Technology; improving undergraduate education; increasing University of California opportunities for minorities entering as freshmen and for women and minorities seeking graduate and professional school admission; and enlarging the University of California’s physical facilities to accommodate these initiatives along with unexpectedly large enrollment increases.  

Chapter 8--Bumps and Barriers Along the Way

Comment: Addressed issues that were usually accompanied by unrest and protest, including renewal of contracts for the U.S. Department of Energy  Laboratories (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory); divestment of University of California-owned securities in companies doing business in South Africa; affirmative action in student enrollment, staffing, and the appointment of and advancement of the professoriate; and dealings with the California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG), among many others.

Chapter 9--The Public and Diplomatic Life

Comment: Activities on the international stage as president at both the University of Utah and the University of California.  Examples are noted below.

1979—Clare Hall, Cambridge University, England: Visiting Fellow; later, life member and Honorary Fellow

1984—Visit of Iran’s Ambassador Ardeshir Zahedi to the University of Utah; successful request to free University of Tehran professor, formerly a visiting professor at the University of Utah, from prison in Iran.

1988-90—Business-Higher Education Forum: Chairman

1988-96—Hong Kong University of Science and Technology: advisor to the Planning Committee and founding member of the Governing Council for this new university

1989—Negotiated Federal Republic of Germany grant to fund the all-University Center for German and European Studies, headquartered at the University of California, Berkeley

1989-90—College Board, New Possibilities Commission: Co-Chair with Harvard University President Derek Bok

1989-1992—Pacific Rim Initiative: convened biennial meetings of presidents of leading Pacific Rim universities

1990-92—National Council on Competitiveness: Executive Committee

1990-92—Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges: Advisory Council of Presidents

1991—Under the auspices of the Asia Society of New York, member of delegation to China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, and the Soviet Union

Chapter 10--Tragedy and Tribulation

Comment: Decision to resign as the University of California’s President in November of 1991, owing to the illness and death of wife Libby in February 1991; effective date of resignation was September 30, 1992.  At the September 1992 Board of Regents meeting, summarized accomplishments and problems during the years of service to the University and called the Regents’ attention to the University’s growing fiscal problems owing to California’s severe recession during 1991-94.

Epilogue—Years of Renewal and Personal Reflections

1984--University of Utah: President Emeritus and Professor of Higher Education Emeritus

1993—University of California: President Emeritus; University of California, Berkeley: Professor Emeritus, Graduate School of Education

1993-99—William and Flora Hewlett Foundation: President

1992-2004—J. Paul Getty Trust: Trustee (1992-2004); Chairman (2000-2004)

2001-05—University of Utah: Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy, Graduate School of Education