The senior dean of the UCLA College and dean of the Division of Physical Sciences will step down in June 2027, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Darnell Hunt announced Tuesday.

Miguel A. García-Garibay will return to the physical sciences’ faculty after stepping down, Hunt said in an email to faculty. UCLA will start searching for the next dean of physical sciences next fall and work with College administrators to find a new senior dean, Hunt added.

García-Garibay has served as dean of physical sciences since 2016 and was appointed senior dean of the UCLA College in 2022. He joined UCLA’s chemistry and biochemistry faculty in 1992 and previously served as the department’s vice chair and chair.

“Since his appointment as dean of the Division of Physical Sciences a decade ago, the division has grown in scale, impact and reputation,” Hunt said in the email. “Now encompassing six departments, eight institutes and centers, 4,000 undergraduate majors and 1,000 graduate students, it remains one of the great engines of innovation at UCLA.”

The division has also expanded its annual budget and increased its external funding amid an uncertain economic and political climate, Hunt added in the email. 

The federal government suspended $584 million in UCLA’s research grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and the United States Department of Energy in July, alleging that the university allowed affirmative action, antisemitism and “men to participate in women’s sports.” A federal judge restored the bulk of the grants through temporary injunctions in August and September. 

[Related: Federal Funding Cuts to UCLA] 

García-Garibay has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences for his work in the field of chemistry.

Hunt added that García-Garibay oversaw more than 80 new faculty hires and supported interdisciplinary programs in areas including data theory, climate science, quantum information science, planetary science and fusion. 

Garcia-Garibay has also supported student-led outreach events such as Exploring Your Universe – UCLA’s annual community science fair – including by presenting the Science and Education Pioneer Award at the event.

[Related: UCLA hosts Exploring Your Universe, an interactive science fair for LA community]

“Chancellor Frenk and I are grateful for Miguel’s decades of steady and strategic leadership at the College and at UCLA,” Hunt said in the email. “We will all have the coming academic year to show our appreciation for his many contributions before he returns to the division’s faculty next summer.”