Appointment of L. Amy Blum as Interim Vice Chancellor of Legal Affairs

UCLA Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost

To: Administrative Officers, Deans, Department Chairs, Directors, Vice Chancellors, Vice Provosts and Legal Affairs Staff

Dear Colleagues:

I am pleased to announce that L. Amy Blum has agreed to serve as interim vice chancellor of legal affairs, effective October 3, 2015, following the departure of current vice chancellor Kevin Reed, who has recently been appointed vice president and general counsel at the University of Oregon.

An attorney in UCLA’s Office of the Campus Counsel since 2004, Ms. Blum has served as senior campus counsel since 2008 and was recently promoted to managing campus counsel. She advises Chancellor Block and other campus leadership on a broad range of legal matters, including academic and staff employment matters for the health sciences and campus, student conduct and student affairs policy and compliance, copyright and other legal compliance, computer security and notification requirements, information privacy, public records, workplace violence prevention, and litigation and risk management.

In her role as interim vice chancellor, Ms. Blum will serve as chief legal counsel at UCLA, continuing to advise Chancellor Block and me, and overseeing legal services to academic and administrative units. Reporting jointly to the chancellor and to the General Counsel of the University of California, she will also serve as a member of the UC Office of General Counsel, advising on the legal trends and needs of the UCLA campus and assisting General Counsel Charles F. Robinson in advocating and representing the interests of the UC regents.

Ms. Blum has served on numerous UCLA committees, including the Data Governance Task Force, Board on Privacy and Data Protection, Steering Committee on Online Teaching and Learning, Administration–Senate Academic Freedom Task Force, and the Workplace Violence Prevention Committee and Behavioral Intervention Team. Outside UCLA, she actively served on various committees for the National Association of College and University Attorneys from 2006 to 2013, and she has presented and published on various topics such as managing oral history rights, filming and photography on campuses, protecting animal research programs, copyright and file sharing, and information security breaches. She received a B.A. in environmental studies from UC Santa Cruz and a J.D. summa cum laude from the Santa Clara University School of Law. Prior to joining UCLA, Ms. Blum worked for more than 15 years at Reed Smith Crosby Heafey in Los Angeles and was an equity partner and trial market practice group leader.

Many of you have worked with Amy and have benefitted from her skills, abilities and commitment to UCLA. I am confident that she will provide outstanding leadership as interim vice chancellor, and I very much appreciate her willingness to serve in this capacity. Please join me in congratulating Amy and welcoming her to this new role.

Sincerely,

Scott L. Waugh
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost