University of California President Robert C. Dynes announced today (June 15) the appointment of Norman Abrams as acting chancellor of the UCLA campus, effective July 1. Abrams, a professor emeritus of law at UCLA, will return to active status to accept the appointment.

Dynes made the interim appointment in accordance with UC policy and after consulting with several UC regents, including Gerald L. Parsky, board chairman, and Judith L. Hopkinson, the current chair of the regents’ special compensation committee. Dynes is expected to bring a recommendation for confirmation of Abrams’ interim appointment to the regents at their July meeting.

Albert Carnesale, UCLA’s chancellor since July 1, 1997, announced last September that he would retire on June 30, 2006. Following a sabbatical leave, Carnesale – nationally known for his expertise in international affairs and national security policy – intends to return to his teaching, scholarship and engagement in public policy issues.

A search for a permanent chancellor continues, and is expected to be finalized by the end of the year.

Abrams, 73, joined the UCLA law faculty in 1959. He teaches and writes in the areas of federal criminal law, anti-terrorism law and evidence. Abrams served as UCLA’s vice chancellor of academic personnel from 1991 to 2001, overseeing faculty appointments and promotions as well as the campus faculty grievance and disciplinary process on the campus.

In 2001, he returned full time to the school of law, and Carnesale appointed him to serve as interim dean of the law school in 2003-04.

“Professor Abrams is an accomplished scholar and administrator, and he knows the UCLA community well,” Dynes said. “I am confident he will provide thoughtful and strong leadership during this transition period.”

Before joining the faculty of the UCLA law school in 1959, Abrams served as an associate in law at Columbia University’s law school, and at the Harvard law school as a research associate and director of the Harvard Brandeis Cooperative Research for Israel’s Legal Development. While on leave from UCLA, in 1966-1976 he served as a special assistant to the Attorney General of the United States in the criminal division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Abrams’ ground-breaking casebook on federal criminal law, Federal Criminal Law and Its Enforcement (with Beale), is now in its fourth edition. He is also a co-author of three editions of Evidence--Cases and Materials, 9th ed. (with Berger, Mansfield, and Weinstein), and he has recently authored a new casebook titled, Anti-terrorism and Criminal Enforcement, the second edition of which was published in 2005.

Abrams holds both an undergraduate degree and J.D. from the University of Chicago.

As acting chancellor, Abrams will receive an annual salary of $320,000. In addition to annual salary, Abrams will also receive standard pension and health benefits in accordance with UC policy. He will also be entitled to an annual administrative fund allocation for official entertainment and other purposes permitted by university policy and procedures. Since Abrams is coming out of retirement to accept the post, his current UC pension will be suspended while he is serving as acting chancellor.

A brief biography of Abrams is available at:
www.law.ucla.edu/home/index.asp?page=389

For more information about the search from the UCLA campus:
www.ucla.edu/bulletin/newchancellor.html

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