San Francisco Chronicle 3/21/2008

University of Texas Chancellor Mark Yudof, virtually assured of becoming the next president of the prestigious University of California system, is no stranger to the rough-and-tumble world of education politics he's likely to experience there.

As head of the largest public university system in Texas, and before that in Minnesota, he's sparred with the likes of Jesse Ventura over budgets, has struggled to increase ethnic diversity and has been a champion of accountability.

Yudof, 63, was the unanimous choice Thursday of a committee charged with recommending who the next president of the 10-campus system should be. Yudof is expected to be officially appointed by the UC Board of Regents on March 27, said Richard Blum, chairman of the selection committee and the UC Board of Regents.

"We believe Mark Yudof, besides being a brilliant lawyer and a visionary president also has had a history of being a good manager," Blum said. "We came to the conclusion that he is the best."

Yudof, a lawyer, has been chancellor of the highly regarded University of Texas system since August 2002. Before that, he was president of the four-campus University of Minnesota system and had a long history of administration and teaching in the Texas system.

"I literally don't know anybody else in the country that has a shot of mastering the internal and external issues that will hit a new president," said UC Berkeley Public Policy Professor David Kirp, who is an expert on higher education and wrote a book with Yudof. "He just has a great track record. He has been very good at managing, streamlining and structuring campuses."

At the University of California, Yudof will run a system that is
unparalleled in its prestige and influence among public higher education
institutions.

It rivals the most elite private universities so the selection of a new president has implications that reach from cutting-edge research to the grooming of the next generation of leaders. It also strongly influences K-12 education through its entrance requirements, among other things.

The hiring of a president to replace Robert Dynes, who is departing after five years, comes at a time when the university is facing a dire budget situation and expects to cut programs and raise tuition.

Yudof's experience in steering the complex, multi-campus systems of Texas and Minnesota was a key factor in his selection, officials said, and will be important as UC seeks to right itself after being rocked by a controversy over its compensation practices and management structure.

"He'll do extraordinarily well. He is very bright. He has spent his whole career at top-flight research universities, which is absolutely critical at UC," said Raymund Paredes, Texas commissioner of higher education and a former professor and administrator at UC. "It is a big loss for Texas. UC is lucky to get a leader like Yudof."

Yudof also has grappled extensively with diversity, another issue he'll
face at UC.

Yudof has "pushed very hard" on diversity, both in admission and in hiring, Paredes said. That is critical at UC, which has been struggling to increase the number of Latinos and African Americans on its campuses and among its faculty.

In Texas, Yudof has been working with the Legislature to modify a 1997 law that guarantees students in the top 10 percent of their high school class admission to the state university of their choice. Critics of that law say it has tied the hands of the university and made a more comprehensive review of students impossible. About 81 percent of students were offered admissions through the 10 percent rule to the fall 2008 freshman class at Texas' flagship campus in Austin, a spokesman for the system said. Yudof, with other higher education and state leaders, wants to limit the percentage of students taken under that law to 50 percent of the freshman class.

Yudof has also weathered hard fiscal times in Texas, something he can expect to deal with in California. He successfully fought the state Legislature to take away its control over setting student tuition. He also implemented a cap on student fee increases.

"He does have a track record of trying to protect the cost of education," said senior Andrew Solomon, 22, president of the student association at the University of Texas at Austin. "It is always a delicate balance between quality versus cost, and he recognizes that. He does very much have the students' pockets in mind."

He refused to back down against Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura over state support for the university there and forced the governor to boost spending in part by marshaling pressure from parents worried how budget cuts would impact their children's education. And he aggressively pursued money both from the state and from private sources to refurbish an aging university infrastructure.

"Yudof is somebody who has gone through steep budget deficits. Federal research dollars are up, enrollment growth and diversity is up, and UT Southwest Medical School is at the very top of the charts. All that has happened on his watch," said Texas state Rep. Dan Branch, chairman of the House Select Committee on Higher Education and Public Education Finance.

Blum, who spoke after a two-hour meeting with the selection committee and Yudof at the UCSF Mission Bay campus, declined to say how much the university would offer Yudof but acknowledged, "He is expensive."

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, Yudof is among the highest-paid leaders of a public university in the nation, with a total compensation of $742,209 in 2006-07. Dynes is currently paid $405,000 in base salary plus a car allowance of $8,916.

Although Blum said that not a negative word about Yudof could be uncovered, if there is one criticism of his tenure, it is his focus on the premier institutions in his system over the lesser-known campuses.

"He has shown no interest in the UT Pan Americans or the UT Brownsvilles," said Tom Johnson, executive director of the Texas Faculty Association. "It is all about UT Austin because that is what the world knows about. It is about the high-profile programs."

Yudof did lose in his one face-off with the University of California in a 2005 bid to take over management of the contract of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. UC, teaming up with Bechtel, ultimately won the contract and retained its decadeslong management of the lab.

Yudof did not respond to a request for an interview, but Paredes said he can understand why he would be willing to leave Texas for the UC job.

"The University of California is in my mind the most prestigious public higher education system in the country, and what a way to end your career," he said. Mark Yudof

Experience: Chancellor, University of Texas, 2002-08;
President, University of Minnesota, 1997-2002;
Executive vice president and provost, University of Texas at Austin, 1994-97;
Dean of the school of law, University of Texas at Austin, 1984-94;
Faculty member, University of Texas at Austin, 1971-84.

Education: Bachelor's degree in political science, University of Pennsylvania, 1965;
Law degree, Law School of the University of Pennsylvania, 1968.

Personal: Age 63; married; wife Judy is the former international president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
Source: University of Texas system

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Texas Chancellor Tapped for UC Post

Friday March 21, 2008 Tanya Schevitz University of Texas Chancellor Mark Yudof, virtually assured of becoming the next president of the prestigious University of California system, is no stranger to the rough-and-tumble world of education politics he's likely to experience there. As head of the largest public university system in Texas, and before that in Minnesota, he's sparred with the likes of Jesse Ventura over budgets, has struggled to increase ethnic diversity and has been a champion of accountability. Yudof, 63, was the unanimous choice Thursday of a committee charged with recommending who the next president of the 10-campus system should be. Yudof is expected to be officially appointed by the UC Board of Regents on March 27, said Richard Blum, chairman of the selection committee and the UC Board of Regents. "We believe Mark Yudof, besides being a brilliant lawyer and a visionary president also has had a history of being a good manager," Blum said. "We came to the conclusion that he is the best." Yudof, a lawyer, has been chancellor of the highly regarded University of Texas system since August 2002. Before that, he was president of the four-campus University of Minnesota system and had a long history of administration and teaching in the Texas system. "I literally don't know anybody else in the country that has a shot of mastering the internal and external issues that will hit a new president," said UC Berkeley Public Policy Professor David Kirp, who is an expert on higher education and wrote a book with Yudof. "He just has a great track record. He has been very good at managing, streamlining and structuring campuses." Prestige and influence At the University of California, Yudof will run a system that is unparalleled in its prestige and influence among public higher education institutions. It rivals the most elite private universities so the selection of a new president has implications that reach from cutting-edge research to the grooming of the next generation of leaders. It also strongly influences K-12 education through its entrance requirements, among other things. The hiring of a president to replace Robert Dynes, who is departing after five years, comes at a time when the university is facing a dire budget situation and expects to cut programs and raise tuition. Yudof's experience in steering the complex, multi-campus systems of Texas and Minnesota was a key factor in his selection, officials said, and will be important as UC seeks to right itself after being rocked by a controversy over its compensation practices and management structure. "He'll do extraordinarily well. He is very bright. He has spent his whole career at top-flight research universities, which is absolutely critical at UC," said Raymund Paredes, Texas commissioner of higher education and a former professor and administrator at UC. "It is a big loss for Texas. UC is lucky to get a leader like Yudof." Yudof also has grappled extensively with diversity, another issue he'll face at UC. Yudof has "pushed very hard" on diversity, both in admission and in hiring, Paredes said. That is critical at UC, which has been struggling to increase the number of Latinos and African Americans on its campuses and among its faculty. In Texas, Yudof has been working with the Legislature to modify a 1997 law that guarantees students in the top 10 percent of their high school class admission to the state university of their choice. Critics of that law say it has tied the hands of the university and made a more comprehensive review of students impossible. About 81 percent of students were offered admissions through the 10 percent rule to the fall 2008 freshman class at Texas' flagship campus in Austin, a spokesman for the system said. Yudof, with other higher education and state leaders, wants to limit the percentage of students taken under that law to 50 percent of the freshman class. Yudof has also weathered hard fiscal times in Texas, something he can expect to deal with in California. He successfully fought the state Legislature to take away its control over setting student tuition. He also implemented a cap on student fee increases. "He does have a track record of trying to protect the cost of education," said senior Andrew Solomon, 22, president of the student association at the University of Texas at Austin. "It is always a delicate balance between quality versus cost, and he recognizes that. He does very much have the students' pockets in mind." He refused to back down against Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura over state support for the university there and forced the governor to boost spending in part by marshaling pressure from parents worried how budget cuts would impact their children's education. And he aggressively pursued money both from the state and from private sources to refurbish an aging university infrastructure. "Yudof is somebody who has gone through steep budget deficits. Federal research dollars are up, enrollment growth and diversity is up, and UT Southwest Medical School is at the very top of the charts. All that has happened on his watch," said Texas state Rep. Dan Branch, chairman of the House Select Committee on Higher Education and Public Education Finance. Expensive choice Blum, who spoke after a two-hour meeting with the selection committee and Yudof at the UCSF Mission Bay campus, declined to say how much the university would offer Yudof but acknowledged, "He is expensive." According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, Yudof is among the highest-paid leaders of a public university in the nation, with a total compensation of $742,209 in 2006-07. Dynes is currently paid $405,000 in base salary plus a car allowance of $8,916. Although Blum said that not a negative word about Yudof could be uncovered, if there is one criticism of his tenure, it is his focus on the premier institutions in his system over the lesser-known campuses. "He has shown no interest in the UT Pan Americans or the UT Brownsvilles," said Tom Johnson, executive director of the Texas Faculty Association. "It is all about UT Austin because that is what the world knows about. It is about the high-profile programs." Yudof did lose in his one face-off with the University of California in a 2005 bid to take over management of the contract of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. UC, teaming up with Bechtel, ultimately won the contract and retained its decadeslong management of the lab. Yudof did not respond to a request for an interview, but Paredes said he can understand why he would be willing to leave Texas for the UC job. "The University of California is in my mind the most prestigious public higher education system in the country, and what a way to end your career," he said. Mark Yudof Experience: Chancellor, University of Texas, 2002-08; President, University of Minnesota, 1997-2002; Executive vice president and provost, University of Texas at Austin, 1994-97; Dean of the school of law, University of Texas at Austin, 1984-94; Faculty member, University of Texas at Austin, 1971-84. Education: Bachelor's degree in political science, University of Pennsylvania, 1965; Law degree, Law School of the University of Pennsylvania, 1968. Personal: Age 63; married; wife Judy is the former international president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. Source: University of Texas system tschevitz@sfchronicle.com Go Back

Texas Chancellor Tapped for UC Post