UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale announced today that he plans to step down as chancellor on June 30, 2006. Following a sabbatical leave, he intends to return to his teaching, scholarship and engagement in public policy issues. Carnesale is nationally known for his expertise in international affairs and national security policy.

Carnesale assumed UCLA's top position on July 1, 1997, having come from Harvard University, where he served for 23 years as professor, dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government and provost of the university. Under his leadership, UCLA has risen to the top tier of the nation's research universities, competing successfully with elite private institutions that have greater resources from higher tuition, fees and endowments built over time.

"UCLA is one of the world's great universities, public or private," Carnesale said. "Few institutions can match its depth and breadth of excellence in education, research, service, health care, arts and cultural offerings, and athletics. I am proud to have served as its eighth chief executive."

University of California President Robert Dynes, who will conduct the search for the next UCLA chancellor, said, "Al Carnesale has provided superb leadership during a challenging time, when California faced tough budget challenges that threatened the entire University. Throughout this period, UCLA has built upon its foundation of excellence and enhanced its service to the people of Los Angeles and California immeasurably. I am indebted to Chancellor Carnesale for the contributions he has made to UCLA's academic quality, its engagement with the community, its expansion to meet California's growing needs, and its educational experience for students."

Resource Development to Sustain Excellence

During his tenure, Carnesale concentrated UCLA's efforts on attracting research funds and private monies, in order to sustain the university's trajectory as a top-tier research institution through an era of declining state support. Between 1997 and 2005, UCLA's annual operating budget has grown from $2.2 billion to $3.5 billion, while the state of California's contribution has shrunk from 20.7 percent to 15 percent of the university's operating budget.

In private fundraising, UCLA consistently ranks among the top 10 research universities in the nation. Campaign UCLA was launched publicly in May 1997, with an initial goal of $1.2 billion. UCLA doubled the goal to $2.4 billion in March 2002. Currently, UCLA has raised nearly $3 billion. The campaign will close in December of this year.

In June 2004, Carnesale announced a special five-year, $250 million initiative, "Ensuring Academic Excellence," to raise funds for professorships, fellowships and scholarships to help recruit and retain top faculty and students, in order to assure UCLA's continued academic strength. By July 31, 2005, UCLA raised more than $100 million toward that goal.

Between 1997 and 2005, UCLA also doubled the scale of its research support, from $410 million in competitively awarded grants and contracts to $821 million in 2005. UCLA consistently places among the top five research universities in the nation in this area. During this period, UCLA, in collaboration with the University of California, Santa Barbara, won the statewide competition for a grant to establish the California NanoSystems Institute, which will enhance the state's economy by focusing on technology advances in collaboration with business and industry.

Undergraduate Education

Carnesale also has presided over a transformation of the campus from a commuter institution to a residential campus, coupled with a period of increased selectivity of its student body and a refocusing of the undergraduate experience to include undergraduate research, small class experiences with top faculty and an expansion of international studies.

Since 1997, UCLA has completed or has under construction new housing for more than 4,600 undergraduate and graduate students. More than 90 percent of each year's approximately 4,200 incoming freshmen now live on campus, in the northwest corner referred to as "The Hill," an environment that incorporates living space, classrooms, counseling offices, and computer and recreational areas.

Carnesale initiated the Fiat Lux seminar program, established initially to help students understand the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001. The seminars provide small group, interdisciplinary exploration of critical issues with faculty. UCLA will offer 200 Fiat Lux seminars in the coming academic year, and Carnesale has continued to teach a Fiat Lux seminar on national security.

Throughout this period, the academic qualifications of the UCLA student body have increased significantly. The average, fully weighted GPA has increased from 4.13 in fall 1997 to 4.25 in fall 2005. SAT I scores have increased by 47 points over the same period. UCLA currently ranks first in the UC system in student selectivity, graduation and retention rates. Among the 62 members of the American Association of Universities, UCLA also has the largest percentage of low-income Pell grant students. There are more undergraduate students from low income families enrolled at UCLA than at all of the Ivy League colleges combined.

Civic Engagement, Arts and Culture

Carnesale served on the transition team for newly elected Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and has made community engagement and arts and culture a priority of his administration.

"UCLA is the finest public research institution in the country located in a major urban environment, which poses important opportunities and responsibilities for UCLA and the City," Carnesale said.

In 2002, Carnesale launched the UCLA in LA initiative, which is housed in the Office of the Chancellor. Through its Center for Community Partnerships, UCLA in LA has created 80 partnerships between UCLA faculty and community organizations working to support economic development; children, youth and families; and arts and culture. The programs are funded with $2.1 million in private funding raised by UCLA.

UCLA arts programs, through UCLA Live, the Fowler Museum, Hammer Museum and many other performance-based efforts through the top-ranked School of the Arts and Architecture and School of Theater, Film and Television, have achieved world class status in recent years, and attract more than half a million visitors each year. This fall, UCLA will open the nation's premier dance center for teaching and performance, Glorya Kaufman Hall, and the newly renovated Geffen Playhouse. In spring 2006, UCLA will open the Edythe L. and Eli Broad Arts Center, a new home for the university's internationally renowned visual arts programs.

Capital Programs

UCLA is situated on 419 acres and is the smallest of the UC campuses. Its capital program is the largest in the UC system. During Carnesale's tenure, UCLA has completed, or has under construction, more than $3 billion in capital projects, including the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, which will be the nation's most advanced patient care hospital. This year saw the opening of a new Physics and Astronomy building and of La Kretz Hall, UCLA's first environmentally certified "green" building, as well as other critical renovation and new construction projects that will help secure UCLA's preeminence in functionality and beauty.

Throughout this period, UCLA Athletics has continued its comprehensive excellence. Overall, UCLA Athletics teams have won 97 national championships, more than any other NCAA Division I college or university, including 22 championships since the 1997–98 academic year.

"The accomplishments of the university during this period represent the work of an outstanding leadership team, as well as the thousands of superb faculty and staff to whom I owe a great debt of gratitude," Carnesale said. "I look forward to continuing our work together over the next year, and to being a member of the UCLA family forever."

An active teacher and lecturer, Carnesale holds professorial appointments in the School of Public Affairs and in the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science at UCLA. He is the author or co-author of six books and more than 50 scholarly articles on subjects including the control of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, international energy issues, and the effects of technological change on foreign and defense policy. Carnesale is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Council on Foreign Relations. He has represented the United States government in high-level negotiations on defense and energy issues, including the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, SALT I, with the Soviet Union.