2010 Recipient

George Blumenthal is the Chancellor of UC Santa Cruz, where he joined the faculty in 1972 as a professor of astronomy and astrophysics. His appointment as Chancel-lor in 2007 capped decades of service to the Senate in leadership roles. Blumenthal served as systemwide Academic Senate Chair in 2004-2005 and was faculty repre-sentative to the UC Regents from 2003 to 2005. He also served as chair of the UCSC divisional Senate from 2001 to 2003, chair of the UCSC Committee on Privilege and Tenure, and chair of the systemwide Committee on Privilege and Tenure. He has also served as chair of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics. He is the fourth former systemwide Academic Senate chair to serve as a UC chancellor.

During his tenure as systemwide Academic Senate Vice Chair and Chair, Chancellor Blumenthal made an enduring impact on the Senate. As Council Vice Chair, he chaired a Special Task Force on Senate Bylaws that led to the enactment of a num-ber of significant bylaw amendments related to membership, leadership, and charges to standing committees of the Assembly; this work was accompanied by 2003 revisions to the Faculty Code of Conduct. As Council Chair, he was instrumental in de-veloping a set of Guidelines for establishing a new Senate Division at a new UC cam-pus in preparation for establishing the Merced Division in May 2005. He also strove to protect academic freedom by guiding the Senate’s Resolution on Research Fund-ing Sources through the Academic Assembly. Especially relevant today, then Chair Blumenthal spearheaded Senate Regulation amendments facilitating transfer—establishing Regulation 477 (SciGETC) and amending Regulation 478. Finally, he instituted the practice of inviting Regents to Council meetings, and inaugurated an “Annual Report on Shared Governance”.

Gayle Binion is a professor of political science at UC Santa Barbara, where she has been on the faculty since 1976. Professor Binion first became involved in the UCSB Senate as a member of the Committee on Educational Policy and Academic Planning (CEPAP). She served as CEPAP chair in 1998-99 before moving on to systemwide service as a member (1999-01) and then chair (2001-02) of the University Committee on Planning and Budget, and then systemwide Senate chair in 2002-03. More recently, she chaired the Senate Task Force on the Honors/AP/IB/CC “Grade Bump;” served for two years as director of the Education Abroad Program’s California House Study Center in London; and was a member of the Expanded ad hoc Committee on International Education.

2008 Recipient

Lawrence H. Pitts is a professor of neurosurgery at UC San Francisco. Before his election as systemwide Senate chair in 2003-04, Professor Pitts served as chair of the UCSF Senate (1999-01); as a member (1992-96) and then chair (1996-97) of the UCSF Committee on Faculty Welfare and as chair (1995-96) of the University Committee on Faculty Welfare. He has served on a variety of other divisional and systemwide Senate committees, including the Shared Governance Task Force, the Task Force on Healthcare, and the drafting task force on UC’s Health Sciences Compensation Plan. He currently serves on three UCSF committees and several systemwide committees, including Council's Special Committee on Lab Issues. He was a member of the Regents’ Study Group on University Diversity in 2006-07.

2006 Recipient

Michael Cowan, a founding member of UC Santa Cruz and UCSC Professor of American Studies and Literature, has demonstrated exceptional leadership on numerous committees and task forces of the Academic Senate. He began serving on Senate committees in 1969, his first year at UCSC, and was the only person to serve twice as chair of the Santa Cruz Academic Senate, in 1979-80 and from 1994 to 1996. He worked closely with the administration on divisional and systemwide Planning and Budget committees before becoming Universitywide Academic Senate chair in 2000. In 1997, Cowan received the first Dean McHenry Award for Distinguished Leadership — given by the UCSC Academic Senate to acknowledge outstanding service.

2006 Recipient

Karl S. Pister is Chancellor Emeritus of UC Santa Cruz (1991-96), former chair of the Academic Senate (1979-80) former dean of UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering and former Vice President for Educational Outreach. He joined the UC Berkeley faculty as an assistant professor of civil engineering in 1952 and began his Senate service that same year on the Berkeley Library Committee. He served for several years on Berkeley’s Educational Policy Committee and the Universitywide Committee on Educational Policy, before becoming systemwide Senate Chair in 1979. He is a recipient of the Berkeley Medal and the Presidential Medal of the University of California. In 2006, the California Alumni Association named him Alumnus of the Year.

2004 Recipient

Aimee Dorr, Professor of Education and Dean of the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UC Los Angeles, was an exceptionally effective leader of the UC faculty. She served in numerous Senate leadership positions, including Chair of the UCLA Graduate Council in 1991-92 and Chair of CCGA in 1993-94. She was Vice Chair and Chair of the UCLA Division (1995-96; 1996-97) and Vice Chair and Chair of the systemwide Academic Senate (1997-98; 1998-99). Professor Dorr was particularly instrumental in the development of significant policies and standards relating to graduate student affairs.

2004 Recipient

Calvin C. Moore, Mathematics Professor Emeritus at UC Berkeley, played a pivotal role in shaping admissions and eligibility policy at the University and successfully guided the Senate at a time when admissions policies were challenged legally and under intense scrutiny. As a five-year member of the Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS), he helped forge the universitywide transition to Comprehensive Review and helped lead major UC initiatives in admissions and eligibility.