Appointment of Michael S. Levine as Vice Chancellor for Academic Personnel

May 7, 2018

UCLA Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost

To: Administrative Officers, Deans, Department Chairs, Directors, Faculty, Vice Chancellors and Vice Provosts

Dear Colleagues:

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Michael S. Levine as Vice Chancellor for Academic Personnel, effective May 1, 2018.

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 and has served as interim vice chancellor for academic personnel since July 2016. As interim vice chancellor, he has served as the senior campus official responsible for academic appointments, promotions and advancements; academic recruitment and retention; faculty grievance and disciplinary proceedings; review of proposals for faculty housing and loan programs; the Academic Personnel Office; and emeriti faculty relations. Michael has overseen the continued progression of the Opus faculty information system, and has been involved in updating academic personnel disciplinary policies; developing the Outside Activity Tracking System (OATS), a multi-campus, online system for tracking outside activity for all faculty; and implementing several new faculty development and welfare initiatives.

Previously, Michael served as his department’s associate chair for academic affairs (2006–2016), special assistant to the vice chancellor for academic personnel (2006–2016), associate director for education of the Brain Research Institute (2002–16), holder of the Gail Patrick Endowed Chair in Brain Research (2006–16), chair of the Interdepartmental Ph.D. Program in Neuroscience (2002–2014), chair of the Undergraduate Interdepartmental Program in Neuroscience (1998–2003), 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.

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. He has published more than 250 peer-reviewed research reports and 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). For many years, Michael has been a frequent panelist and speaker at workshops on academic personnel matters and other programs designed for junior faculty, department chairs and deans.

I want to thank search/advisory committee members for assembling an outstanding pool of candidates and for their roles in recruiting Michael. Jennifer L. Mnookin, dean of the UCLA School of Law and David G. Price and Dallas P. Price Professor of Law, served as chair of the committee. Other members were:

Denise R. Aberle – professor and vice chair, Department of Radiological Science; professor of bioengineering
Ali Behdad – John Charles Hillis Professor of Literature; professor of English and comparative literature
Andrea M. Ghez – Lauren B. Leichtman & Arthur E. Levine Chair in Astrophysics; professor of physics & astronomy
Jonathan R. Hiatt – professor of surgery and vice dean for faculty, David Geffen School of Medicine
Luisa Iruela-Arispe – professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology
Robin D. G. Kelley – Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in United States History; professor of African American studies
Brian Kite – professor and chair, Department of Theater
Paul H. Krebsbach – dean, School of Dentistry; professor of dentistry
Ananya Roy – professor of urban planning, social welfare and geography
Victoria Vesna – professor of design | media arts

Recognizing that this position is of paramount importance to our faculty, Chancellor Block and I are grateful for Michael’s distinguished service as interim vice chancellor and we are confident that he will continue to provide outstanding leadership. Please join us in congratulating Michael and welcoming him as Vice Chancellor for Academic Personnel.

Sincerely,

Scott L. Waugh
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost