CAMPUS NOTICE

 

OFFICE OF THE SENIOR VICE CHANCELLOR -
ACADEMIC AFFAIRS


March 10, 2009


ALL ACADEMICS AND STAFF AT UCSD

SUBJECT:    Associate Vice Chancellor - Academic Personnel

After three years of dedicated service as Associate Vice Chancellor, Academic Personnel (AVC-AP), Professor Robert Bitmead has announced his decision to step down as AVC-AP effective September 30, 2009. He will return to teaching and research full-time in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, of which he has been a distinguished member of the faculty since 1999. Because of the current budget crisis at UCSD, I have made the difficult decision not to appoint a new AVC-AP until our financial situation improves.

Professor Bitmead is internationally recognized for his work in the theoretical and application-based areas of dynamical system modeling and feedback control. He is a Fellow of several professional organizations for the advancement of technology; the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC). He is the holder of the Cymer Corporation Endowed Chair.

Professor Bitmead was appointed as the inaugural AVC-AP in Fall 2006 to provide academic perspective in the development and implementation of numerous initiatives intended to streamline and improve the academic personnel process at UCSD. As such he has served half-time in my office as a principal advisor on academic personnel matters. He has played a key role in developing, evaluating and recommending academic personnel policies and procedures, and he was integral in developing the UCSD Faculty Salary Equity program and in implementing the 2007 OP Faculty Salary plan. He has also spearheaded the Project Scientists transition to the UC Salary Scale, and will continue to work toward completion of a Professor of Practice proposal and the development of management training for academic leaders and supervisors.

Please join me in thanking Associate Vice Chancellor Bitmead for his exceptional service to the campus.


Paul W. Drake
Senior Vice Chancellor