Lucas, Rose, Herrera-Sobek Form EVC Team

An interim administrative team of professors drawn from the colleges of engineering and letters and science has settled into the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor for an indefinite stay.

Beginning this month, Chancellor Henry Yang appointed Gene Lucas acting executive vice chancellor; Maria Herrera-Sobek, acting associate vice chancellor for academic policy; and Mark Rose, acting associate vice chancellor for academic personnel. Art Gossard, professor of materials, temporarily held the latter position. Rose, who just finished writing a book, returned from vacation last week.

Lucas, who recently completed a tour as head of the Chancellor's Special Committee on Parking, is a professor of chemical and environmental engineering and an associate dean in the College of Engineering. Herrera-Sobek is the chair of Chicano studies and holds the Luis Leal endowed chair in that department. Rose, an authority on intellectual property issues, has served two terms as chair of the UCSB English Department and led the UC Humanities Research Institute, based at UC Irvine, for five years.

Confessing to excitement and some anxiety about the task before them, Lucas noted, "We're all doing jobs that we've never done before. Yet, this is a chance to serve an institution we all care about."

While seconding Lucas' sentiments, Herrera-Sobek added "I am very grateful for the tremendous outpouring of support from faculty and staff. There is much positive energy in these messages, and I look forward to moving forward with UCSB."

"It's our goal and our hope," said Lucas. "[The EVC Office] has a great staff and they will help us learn the ropes."

Before now, Lucas had not worked with either Herrera-Sobek or Rose, but Herrera-Sobek has known Rose for some time. Their terms overlapped at Irvine where she taught for more than 20 years before joining UCSB in 1997. The two men joined UCSB's faculty within a year of each other in the late 1970s.