College calls O’Brien dean
By Vanda Suvansilpakit
Jan. 20, 2004 9:00 p.m.
The UCLA College named Patricia O’Brien, current dean of
the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at the
University of California at Riverside, as its executive dean
Tuesday.
The appointment will take effect July 1, 2004, after approval by
the UC Board of Regents.
Chancellor Albert Carnesale, who made the final selection from a
pool of candidates proposed by a search committee, said he selected
O’Brien because he had “no doubt in (his) mind that she
is the person who can best do the job.”
Carnesale said he is confident of O’Brien’s ability
to be a leader of the university community. He added he was
searching for someone who possesses the power to persuade and
“believes deeply in the institution and its principles of
teaching, research and service.”
Carnesale said because of O’Brien’s extensive
experience working within the UC system, she is already familiar
with the inner workings of the university. At the same time, she is
open-minded and creative, he said.
If approved by the regents, O’Brien will become the first
woman to have held the permanent post as the executive director of
the college.
Carnesale said he believes having a woman in the position is
“long overdue in the academic community.” Though he
selected O’Brien because of her leadership abilities,
Carnesale said having the appointment serve as an example of how
women can succeed at UCLA is a “wonderful
by-product.”
As the executive dean of the UCLA College ““ formerly the
College of Letters & Science ““ O’Brien will be
responsible for overseeing most of the university’s academic
departments and 130 undergraduate majors and degrees.
O’Brien said she is “thrilled at the prospect of
joining the UCLA faculty, staff and students.” As schools in
the UC system struggle to cope with California’s budget cuts,
O’Brien said she will work to “preserve undergraduate
access and graduate excellence.”
Born in 1945 in Cambridge, Mass., O’Brien grew up in the
aftermath of World War II. She attended college in the 1960s, a
period of war and civil unrest.
“It seemed to me then that education and ideas could
change the world, … and I wanted to be part of higher
education,” she said.
Before coming to UC Riverside, O’Brien was the director of
the UC Humanities Research Institute, a research unit serving the
10 UC campuses.
Prior to her appointment as dean at UC Riverside, O’Brien
was a professor and chair of the history department at UC Irvine.
She also served there as the associate and acting vice chancellor
for research.
The UC is a system that has demanded the world’s attention
because of its excellence and quality, O’Brien said.
“I’m really impressed with the quality of faculty at
the UCs and their engagement to research,” she said.
Emory Elliott, an English professor at UC Riverside who has
known O’Brien for 15 years, said the newly appointed dean is
“an exceptional leader.”
“She has done an amazing job of improving our college
dramatically over the last five years. … She has been successful
in encouraging various departments to move forward into
cutting-edge research and experimental work,” he said.
Elliott, who is also the director for the university’s
Center for Ideas and Society and a university professor in the UC
system, added he believes O’Brien will do a “great
job” as executive dean for the UCLA College.
“It’s a pity for us that she’s going, but I
think the timing is right for her. … She’s moving up the
administrative ladder,” he said.
