Distinguished Professor Michael S. Levine to Serve as Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Personnel

UCLA Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost

Deans, Directors, Department Chairs, Administrative Officers, and Faculty

I am pleased to announce that the University of California Regents have approved the appointment of Professor Michael Stephen Levine as Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Personnel, effective July 1, 2016. As previously announced, Professor Carole Goldberg will step down as vice chancellor at that time and return to her faculty appointment in the School of Law.

A member of our faculty since 1976, Michael is a distinguished professor in the department of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences in the David Geffen School of Medicine. He holds the Gail Patrick Endowed Chair in Brain Research and is the associate director for education of the Brain Research Institute.

Michael is his department’s associate chair for academic affairs and he is currently the special assistant to the vice chancellor for academic personnel. He previously served as chair of the Undergraduate Interdepartmental Program in Neuroscience (1998–2003), chair of the Interdepartmental Ph.D. Program in Neuroscience (2002–14) and associate director of the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (1994–2015). He also served on the Council on Academic Personnel from 2002 to 2006 and was the council’s vice chair from 2005 to 2006.

In his role as special assistant to the vice chancellor, he analyzes and evaluates personnel cases after they have been considered by the Council on Academic Personnel, supplies guidance for cases that have encountered procedural difficulties, and advises faculty members who are seeking merit equity reviews. He also reviews conflict of commitment reports, provides input on academic personnel policy changes and serves on or chairs task forces associated with new initiatives in academic personnel, including the new faculty information system. Michael is a frequent panelist and speaker at workshops on academic personnel matters and other programs designed for junior faculty, department chairs and deans.

Michael’s research focuses on the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative disorders. His multidisciplinary work carries implications for such disorders as Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and pediatric epilepsy.

Michael has published approximately 250 peer-reviewed research reports as well as more than 30 book chapters, and he has received research support from a variety of agencies within the National Institutes of Health, as well as from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the Office of Naval Research and numerous foundations. Among many other honors and awards, he is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and he received the National Association for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression’s Distinguished Investigator Award in 1999. He also received the UCLA Neuroscience Undergraduate Society’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 1998 and 2008, the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences Undergraduate Teaching Award (1999) and the UCLA Council of Advisors’ Outstanding Advisor Award (2013).

Chancellor Gene Block and I have every confidence in Michael’s ability to provide strong leadership and continuity in Academic Personnel. I anticipate forming a search committee to identify candidates for a permanent vice chancellor during the 2016–17 academic year, and I will keep you informed as we initiate the search.

Sincerely,

Scott L. Waugh
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost