Dennis Assanis, a scientist, engineer and the former University of Delaware president, was named the new UC Santa Barbara chancellor on Thursday, ushering in a new era of leadership for a university that has grown in stature and selectivity under the three-decade tenure of former Chancellor Henry T. Yang.
The University of California regents cited Assanis’ success at expanding the research prowess in Delaware as among the reasons they selected him.
During Assanis’s time at the University of Delaware, research expenditures grew to $466 million — an increase of $290 million from 2016 — with focuses on health, life sciences and clean hydrogen.
Under his leadership, the university attracted new tenants and created initiatives at its 1.2-million square foot Science, Technology and Advanced Research campus. They included the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals, a public-private partnership which researches vaccines and pharmaceuticals.
UC President Michael V. Drake said he was “thoroughly impressed’ with Assanis’ qualifications, “particularly his commitment to student success, his focus on academic excellence and his record of accomplishment in expanding enterprise research and innovation.”
Drake — who will step down from his position at the end of the month — said he coordinated with incoming UC President James B. Milliken to select Assanis. Drake did not attend the meeting, and his remarks were read by a staff member.
Assanis, 58, who was born in Greece, will take over leadership of the Santa Barbara campus at challenging time for the UC system — under the pressure of a hiring freeze, austerity measures, federal cuts to education and research funding and state funding deferrals. The ocean-view campus in pricey Santa Barbara County is also grappling with a student housing shortage as state pressure grows to increase enrollment.
Regents voted to approve Assanis’ annual salary at $880,000 — a $60,000 increase over the pay of Yang, 84, who stepped down July 14 to return to teaching and research. Assanis starts in the role Sept. 1.
UC Regents Chair Janet Reilly said in a statement that Assanis “commitment to academic excellence and his penchant for collaboration will steer a bold new era of growth and innovation, serving the campus and all of UC well.”
Speaking via video from Greece — where he was on a family vacation — Assanis said becoming chancellor was a “profound privilege” and that he saw higher education “not only as a ladder of opportunity but as a community of belonging, motivation and progress.”
He said he would “work tirelessly” at “fostering a culture of academic and research excellence, supporting student success and strengthening a bold commitment to access and affordability.”
Assanis, who held the top role at the University of Delaware for nine years, was previously a senior vice president for academic affairs at New York’s Stony Brook University and vice president at Brookhaven National Laboratory Affairs.
He began his academic career in 1985 as an engineering professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign before moving in 1995 to teaching, research and administrative positions at the University of Michigan.
Assanis will inherit a campus that that is significantly larger, more prestigious and less provincial than it was when Yang — the longest-serving chancellor in UC history — arrived in 1994 from Purdue University.
Over Yang’s tenure, the campus became more selective and grew dramatically in students enrolled and programs offered. Today, the undergraduate acceptance rate is 32.9%, compared to roughly 70% in the mid-to-late 1990s. About 23,000 undergraduates currently attend classes, compared to 15,525 in 1994.
