https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/us/new-university-california-president-michael-drake.html
Hope he does a great job.
He very qualified and has excellent credentials and background. This will be challenging times with potential repeal of Prop. 209 and elimination of the SAT/ACT test requirements.
I believe so and I think he’s there to get the University over Covid and the things you mentioned, as he’s an MD. I guessing his tenure will be ~ five years or so, based on past UC presidents:
1868–1869 Henry Durant
1869–1870 John LeConte
1870–1872 Henry Durant
1872–1875 Daniel Coit Gilman
1875–1881 John LeConte
1881–1885 W.T. Reid
1885–1888 Edward S. Holden
1888–1890 Horace Davis
1890–1899 Martin Kellogg
1899–1919 Benjamin Ide Wheeler
1919–1923 David Prescott Barrows
1923–1930 William Wallace Campbell
1930–1958 Robert Gordon Sproul
1958–1967 Clark Kerr
1967–1967 Harry R. Wellman (acting president)
1967–1975 Charles J. Hitch
1975–1983 David S. Saxon
1983–1992 David P. Gardner
1992–1995 Jack W. Peltason
1995–2003 Richard C. Atkinson
2003–2008 Robert C. Dynes
2008–2013 Mark Yudof
2013–present: Janet Napolitano
At 70, he is starting at an advanced age. 5 year tenure might be long for that age.
That’s why I said five years because he’s very limited in time. I didn’t want to say two years and make it sound like he’s some sort of interim president, but he’s obviously being brought in as a crisis manager to get the UC through the changes its trying to invoke as well as through COVID. Opinion: I would like to think that he wouldn’t do anything rash as Napolitano has done, without forethought and deliberation.
Not way. Drake is sharp as a tack and very thoughtful. I had to opportunity to work on a couple of jv projects with him and his team back when he was at UCI. He asks great questions, and gets the picture quickly. Great leader; his peeps loved him.
Drake is a superb choice, IMO. 100% better than a politico. The only question is whether he still has fire in the belly for fundraising.
(I was extremely disappointed in Jerry’s choice of Napolitano, but Janet did hit a HR with her hiring of Carol Christ to be Chancellor of Cal…)
That’s evident they loved him at The Ohio State University in the video made for him when he announced that he would be stepping as president a few weeks ago. You can see it on Youtube, with a search “President Drake Farewell Tribute.”
He’s credited with bringing UCI up, doubling its applications, but some of that can partly be with a nationwide increase in college-age students.
As far as fundraising, I don’t really see that as a function of the University of California Office of the President, “UCOP.” It undoubtedly has a general fund that is dispersed to the individual campuses, but not many think it’s sexy to donate to the system, when one can donate to a specific campus. And I didn’t know that the UCOP would forward names for campus chancellors; I thought it was a campus senate thing.
He will be appointed as a tenured professor at UCSF. Are UC presidents required to be on staff at one of the UCs?
https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html indicates that a 70 year old man has a remaining life expectancy of 14.39 years.
Even with 14 years life expectancy, most people at 70 years old would prefer to enjoy life during retirement and not have stress. Life is short. Maybe Drake just enjoys being top dog and the challenges.
Not to downplay Drake’s stellar accomplishments, when he led UCI during the period 2005 to 2014, generally, the UC’s experienced tremendous growth and increased in applicants. This was true and still true especially with the mid-tier UC’s (UCD, UCI and UCSB), especially with UCB and UCLA becoming extremely competitive, which cascaded down to the other UC’s.