Marye Anne Fox, UC San Diego chancellor, plans to step down from her post in June 2012.

Internationally renowned scientist and educator Marye Anne Fox, chancellor of the University of California, San Diego, and 2010 recipient of the National Medal of Science, among many other honors and awards, has announced that she will step down as chancellor in June 2012 to return to teaching and research as a distinguished professor of chemistry at the university. The UC Office of the President will begin an international search for her successor this fall.

“During her tenure as chancellor at UC San Diego, Marye Anne Fox has added striking breadth and depth to the university’s already sterling reputation,” said Mark Yudof, president of the University of California. “The accomplishments of her service give renewed energy and purpose to the institution, and set a visionary course for the 21st century.”

The seventh chancellor of UC San Diego and the first woman to be appointed as permanent chancellor, Fox assembled a diverse senior leadership team during her tenure which saw the campus and its faculty earn Nobel and Pulitzer prizes; garner top international and national rankings for research, teaching, medicine and the arts; gain international notice of the university’s discoveries, inventions and other achievements; and merit presidential recognition for a superlative record of public service.

“I consider it a privilege beyond measure to work with so many extraordinary scholars, teachers, scientists, doctors, staff members and students,” Fox said. “The university has all of the human and creative resources we need to achieve even greater success in the decades ahead.”

Under her leadership, UC San Diego successfully completed a $1 billion capital campaign, celebrated the campus’ 50th anniversary and expanded at an unprecedented pace to accommodate increasing numbers of students and a billion-dollar research enterprise. 

Since her arrival in 2004, the campus has initiated or completed more than $3.5 billion in capital improvement projects that include new construction, renovation of existing space and infrastructure improvements. Once all projects are completed, they will add about 3.4 million assignable square feet of space at the campus, an approximate 40 percent increase. The construction projects have transformed the campus, creating a downtown neighborhood in the heart of campus with the addition of the Student Services Center, the Conrad Prebys Music Center and Price Center expansion, and a new neighborhood on north campus with the addition of a transfer housing complex. These projects have enhanced academic, research and medical facilities, and have provided new meeting spaces for students, faculty and staff, as well as significantly more on-campus student housing.

UC San Diego is also transforming healthcare in the San Diego region with the addition of the Sulpizio Family Cardiovascular Center and the upcoming construction of the Jacobs Medical Center in La Jolla which will include four hospitals — the existing Thornton Hospital and three new specialty units: a cancer hospital, a hospital for women and infants, and a hospital for advanced surgery. Several additional enhancements to UC San Diego’s medical and research facilities also have occurred during Fox’s tenure, including the expansion of the Shiley Eye Center, a new partnership with Rady Children’s Hospital and the renovation of the emergency department at the UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest.

Marye Anne Fox, UC San Diego chancellor

Under her leadership, UC San Diego has become one of the greenest campuses in the nation and is now a living laboratory for climate change research and solutions. The campus self-generates 85 percent of its power needs, mostly from non-renewable natural gas, and is now focusing on renewable energy projects. The campus soon will have more than 2 megawatts of solar photovoltaic capacity, as well as a 2.8-megawatt fuel cell that will convert waste methane gas directly into electricity. Researchers are also investigating more efficient photovoltaics, renewable fuel sources and energy storage, and the campus has established a Sustainability Resource Center; added new green majors, courses and internships; and mandated that all new buildings be designed to meet stringent sustainability standards.

Fox has instituted systemic changes in leadership, visibility and funding to improve diversity and enhance UC San Diego’s campus climate. The university is establishing a new vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion position and hired a director of development for diversity initiatives specifically to fundraise for diversity activities. Two new student spaces for underrepresented students have been created in the center of campus. The "Chicano Legacy 40 Años" mural, initially a temporary art exhibit, was made a permanent fixture on the campus. A diversity requirement was instituted for all undergraduates, and campus celebrations of diversity and outreach to underrepresented communities have been expanded.

Fox, an internationally known chemist and academic leader, was named the seventh chancellor of the University of California, San Diego in 2004 by the University of California’s Board of Regents. She also holds the title of distinguished professor of chemistry and has received honorary degrees from 12 institutions in the U.S. and abroad. In October 2010, President Barack Obama awarded Fox the National Medal of Science, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on scientists, engineers and inventors.

Fox previously served as chancellor and distinguished university professor of chemistry at North Carolina State University, a post she had held since 1998. Before going to North Carolina, Fox spent 22 years at the University of Texas, where she advanced from assistant professor of organic chemistry to vice president for research, and where she held the Waggoner Regents Chair in chemistry.

Fox has held over 50 endowed lectureships at universities around the world and has published more than 400 refereed scientific articles. She also has served as visiting professor at Harvard University, the University of Iowa, the University of Chicago, the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris and the Chemistry Research Promotion Center in Taipei.

At the conclusion of her tenure as chancellor, Fox will return to the UC San Diego Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry to teach and conduct research. 

Additional information regarding Fox’s tenure at UC San Diego is at www.mafox.ucsd.edu.