Santa Cruz: Administrative Officers

The chancellor was the chief administrative officer on the Santa Cruz campus since it first began operations as a general campus of the University in 1965.

Dean Eugene McHenry, 1961-74
Dean Eugene McHenry was named first chancellor at Santa Cruz in 1961. Born near Lompoc, California, on October 18, 1910, he received his A.B. degree from the University (Los Angeles) in 1932, his M.A. degree from Stanford in 1933, and the Ph.D. degree from the University (Berkeley) in 1936.

After teaching at Williams College and Pennsylvania State University, McHenry returned to the Los Angeles campus as assistant professor of political science in 1939. He served as coordinator of the Navy Training Program from 1943 to 1946. He was dean of social sciences, 1947 to 1950, chairman of the Department of Political Science, 1950 to 1952, and academic assistant to the President (University-wide), 1958 to 1960. He achieved the rank of full professor in 1950. From 1960 to 1963, he was University dean of academic planning. McHenry directed surveys of higher education in Nevada and Kansas City, and represented the University on committees that developed the Master Plan Survey for Higher Education in California. source

Mark N. Christensen, 1974-76
A native of Green Bay, Wisconsin, Mark N. Christensen graduated from the University of Alaska in 1952 and received his Ph.D. at Berkeley in 1959. He served in the U.S. army form 1953-54 and worked as a research geologist in Alaska before joining the faculty at UC Berkeley as a professor of geology and geophysics in 1959. He served for two years as the chairman of the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate. From 1965-67, he served as assistant dean of the College of Letters and Science. In 1972, he became a vice chancellor, a position he held until his appointment as chancellor of Santa Cruz on July 1, 1974. He served for two years. source

Robert L. Sinsheimer, 1977-87
Robert L. Sinsheimer completed both his undergraduate and graduate work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was awarded the Ph.D. in biophysics in 1948. He was a staff member at MIT from 1942 to 1949, when he was appointed an associate professor at Iowa State College. In 1957 he joined the faculty of the California Institute of Technology as a professor of biophysics. In 1968, he became chairman of the Division of Biology at the California Institute of Technology. He became chancellor at Santa Cruz on September 1, 1977, a position he held for ten years. source

Robert Stevens, 1987-91
Robert B. Stevens was born in England an educated at Oxford University (Keble College), where he earned a bachelor of arts, master of arts, and doctor of civil law degrees. A legal historian, he served as president of Haverford College from 1978 until his appointment as chancellor at Santa Cruz in 1987. source

Karl S. Pister, 1991-96
After serving for eight months as the interim head of the Santa Cruz campus, Karl S. Pister became its official chancellor on April 1, 1992. A native of Stockton, California, Pister earned his bachelor's and master's degrees at UC Berkeley and his Ph.D. in theoretical and applied mechanics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A professor of civil engineering, he joined the Berkeley faculty in 1952 and has held positions in administration, faculty governance, research, and instruction. In addition to serving as chairman and vice chairman of both departmental and faculty senate units at Berkeley, Pister was chairman of the universitywide Academic Council and Assembly of the Academic Senate, the top academic governance position in the university. He was also faculty representative to UC's Board of Regents. source

M.R.C. Greenwood, 1996-
M.R.C. Greenwood graduated summa cum laude from Vassar College and received her Ph.D. from Rockefeller University. She returned to Vassar where she was named the John Guy Vassar Professor of Natural Sciences, Chair of the Department of Biology, and Director of the Undergraduate Research Summer Institute. She then served as Dean of Graduate Studies, Vice Provost for Academic Outreach, and Professor of Biology and Internal Medicine at UC Davis. From 1993-95, she held an appointment as Associate Director for Science at the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President of the United States. She became chancellor of UC Santa Cruz on July 1, 1996. source