Dr. Michael Drake was chosen Tuesday to be president of the University of California, the first Black leader in the system's 150-year history.
Drake, a seasoned university administrator, replaces Janet Napolitano in overseeing a sprawling, 280,000-student system dealing with issues of accessibility for Blacks and other minorities, along with slashed budgets and upended campus life because of the coronavirus pandemic. ✂
Napolitano, whose seven years as president end Aug. 1, said Drake's appointment is “one more step in our university’s ongoing effort to ensure that the university reflects the rich diversity of our state. It follows other recent decisions by this board to address issues of inequity and systemic racism in our society.”
The first woman to serve as UC president, Napolitano added that: “I recognize the significance of these firsts and while I hope that this kind of leadership diversity at our nation’s universities will soon become commonplace, I am humbled and grateful to have been part of this chapter in UC’s history.”
Drake was UC Irvine's chancellor from 2005 to 2014, when the university increased the number of applicants for undergraduate admission by more than 90% and added programs in law, public health, pharmaceutical sciences and nursing science
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Glad to see this happen from a number of perspectives. My father worked for the Univ. of CA for more than 35 years, so I practically grew up in that system. Eight members of my family have graduated from or attended a UC school (five of them at Berkeley), two others have graduated from a CA State Univ. campus.