UCSB names new chancellor
UC Santa Barbara named its sixth chancellor on July 17 when the university announced that Dr. Dennis Assanis has been approved by the UC Board of Regents to be UCSB’s next man in charge.
Assanis, who is succeeding longtime Chancellor Henry Yang, will assume his new role on September 1. The UC Regents also approved Assanis’s salary at $880,000.
“I am truly honored and thrilled to serve as the next chancellor of UC Santa Barbara,” said Assanis. “I am particularly excited about UC Santa Barbara’s exceptional academic reputation, amazing students and boundless potential to be recognized among the top public universities, building on the celebrated achievements of its distinguished faculty and dedicated staff. Fostering a culture of innovation, academic excellence and student success has been my core focus as a public university leader. My wife, Eleni, and I are excited to join the vibrant and welcoming Santa Barbara community.”
Assanis comes to UCSB from the University of Delaware, where he was president since 2016. A native of Athens, Greece, Assanis helped the University of Delaware establish itself as a hub of innovation in health, biotechnology, neuroscience, energy and the environment, data science, advanced manufacturing, art conservation, and digital humanities.
UC President Michael V. Drake said in a press release that Assanis is “the right person to lead UC Santa Barbara into the future.”
“His deep understanding of the power of interdisciplinary work combined with his energy, insight and strategic vision will blend perfectly with the excellence of UC Santa Barbara students, faculty and staff as they address the world’s most urgent challenges,” Drake said.
Assanis will have big shoes to fill replacing Yang, who served as UCSB’s chancellor for more than three decades. Yang was the longest-serving Chancellor in UC history, having held the title at UCSB since 1994.
Yang’s vision helped create UCSB into an innovation hub, recruiting key academics like LED lighting pioneer Shuji Nakamura to join the faculty before he won his Nobel prize.
