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President Yudof to end his tenure in August

By Public Affairs

University of California President Mark G. Yudof  will step down as leader of the UC system, effective Aug. 31.

Mark Yudof

UC President Mark Yudof

“While the decision is my own, the moment comes with a mixture of emotions,” he said in a statement today.

Yudof cited “a spate of taxing health issues” over the past 18 months. “Though these challenges have been largely overcome,” he said, “I feel it is time to make a change in my professional lifestyle.”

Beyond personal considerations, “this also appears to be an apt time for the university to bring in fresh leadership,” Yudof wrote. “When I arrived in 2008, the economy had begun to unravel and state coffers were tumbling deep into the red. With its budget slashed, the university was presented with one of the most severe challenges in its history.

“Now, it appears the storm has been weathered. We are not fully in the clear, but we are much closer than we were even a few months ago.”

He plans to teach law at UC Berkeley.

“President Yudof has provided the University  of California with steady leadership through the most difficult time in UC’s modern history,” said UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, in response to Yudof’s decision. “He implemented a number of measures to help sustain the university as a premier public university through the largest and steepest loss of state revenue in its history.”

Birgeneau concluded, “Mark has worked tirelessly to promote the University of California and its continued importance to the people of the state, and with the success of Proposition 30, leaves a strong foundation on which a successor can build.”

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