Spring 2026 Academic Senate Election Results (Second Ballot Open for Vice Chair)

Dear Colleagues:

The results of the Spring 2026 election are below. The number of valid ballots cast in this election was 622, which represents a 21.7% turnout of the current Senate membership.

Vice Chair (Chair Designate) – Voting is open for a second ballot
There were three candidates on the ballot for Vice Chair (Chair Designate) of the Division, and no candidate received a majority vote on the first ballot to be elected. A second ballot is now open to determine the Vice Chair (Chair Designate) and includes the two candidates who received the highest number of votes on the first ballot (listed in alphabetical order as they appear on the ballot):

Steven P. Briggs, Professor, Cell and Developmental Biology
Anthony Burr, Professor, Music

The San Diego Division will continue voting until 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 27, 2026, which is the deadline for all votes to be cast.

Review the reference ballot and bios for the candidates on the Senate webpage.

All voting is electronic via the election’s online ballot (Single Sign-On Required).

The voting system will authenticate your identity via the campus Single Sign-On system and is designed to maintain the confidentiality of the voting process by keeping track of who has voted, but not how each member votes. Once the ballot is submitted, neither the voter nor anyone else can change the votes. Access questions may be directed to Trevor Buchanan at tdbuchanan@ucsd.edu.

I encourage you to review the ballot materials provided by the candidates, participate in this democratic process, and vote your conscience.

The results of the elections for Divisional Representatives and Committee on Committees positions are as follows.

Divisional Representatives – Election Outcome

Divisional Representatives (two vacancies) to the systemwide Assembly of the Academic Senate for a two-year term, effective September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2028.

Eric Halgren, Professor, Radiology and Neurosciences
Shahrokh Yadegari, Professor, Music

Committee on Committees – Election Outcome

Member of the Committee on Committees from an Engineering department for a three-year term, effective September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2029.

Gert Cauwenberghs, Professor, Bioengineering
Member of the Committee on Committees from a Health Sciences department, excluding the Department of Medicine and the School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, for a three-year term, effective September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2029.

Tracy Handel, Professor, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Member of the Committee on Committees from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, for a three-year term, effective September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2029.

Paola Cessi, Professor, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Member of the Committee on Committees from a Social Sciences department for a three-year term, effective September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2029.

Mica Pollock, Professor, Education Studies
Member of the Committee on Committees from a Social Sciences department for a two-year term, effective September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2028.

Brian Goldfarb, Associate Professor, Communication

Thank you to all the candidates for their willingness to stand for election.

Sincerely,

Akos Rona-Tas
Vice Chair, Academic Senate, San Diego Division

University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92093