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UCLA professor emeritus of law Norman Abrams will officially replace Chancellor Albert Carnesale

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This will be a year of change for UCLA.

In September 2005 Albert Carnesale, who has been UCLA’s chancellor since 1997, announced his impending resignation, which will be effective June 30. With Carnesale’s departure, the president of the University of California, Robert Dynes, has yet to make a final decision on who will take over as UCLA’s chief administrator. Dynes has appointed an interim chancellor who will hold the post until the end of the year.

In his first years at UCLA, Carnesale started a fundraising project that, at its completion, brought just over $3.2 billion in funding to the university. This was the largest fundraising project ever conducted by a public university, and brought UCLA considerable attention.

Carnesale also guided UCLA through the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, creating the Fiat Lux seminar program for freshmen.

In May there were reports that Deborah Freund, the provost of Syracuse University and the reported top pick for the chancellor position at UCLA, bowed out of the selection for family reasons.

A permanent chancellor appointment is expected early next year. An interim chancellor will hold the position until a permanent replacement is chosen and can start working.

Dynes appointed Norman Abrams, a UCLA School of Law professor emeritus, to be interim chancellor until the Chancellor Search Committee can recommend another candidate to Dynes and the UC Board of Regents, the governing body for the UC system.

The Chancellor Search Committee is a group of students, professors and administrators appointed by Dynes to look for and interview potential chancellor candidates.

Abrams started his tenure at UCLA in 1959 as a law school faculty member. He has taught federal criminal law, anti-terrorism law and evidence.

Abrams served as the UCLA vice chancellor of academic personnel and has been interim dean of the law school.

“The university is like a moving ship. ... It doesn’t anchor. It never stops moving,” Abrams said. “The role of the acting chancellor is to keep that ship moving forward at least at the speed that it was going before and if possible even pick up speed and do new things.”

He said that although he will only be chancellor for a short time, he is “not going to sit still.”

Though Abrams will carry much authority and responsibility at UCLA’s proverbial helm, he will likely not be chancellor long enough to complete any far-reaching projects like Carnesale’s fundraising efforts.

This means that for students, UCLA will be in a state of transition, awaiting a new leader to take up long-term projects and shape the university to his or her vision.

Abrams said he hopes he will be able to make the transition for the new chancellor as smooth as possible, and that he will “clear the path” for the his successor.

In his temporary term as chancellor he said he hopes to address the funding UCLA, and the UC system as a whole, receives from the state.

UCLA has been receiving more and more of its funding over the past several decades from private sources while it has become less dependent on state contributions, he said.

Abrams said that as the “crown jewel” of California education, the UC system should be receiving more funding, and he hopes to address this problem.

He said he is excited about the prospect of guiding UCLA through a relatively short time in its history, and plans to return to teaching and research when a permanent chancellor is selected.

Abrams will receive an annual salary of $320,000 in addition to pension and health benefits. Chancellor Carnesale earned $324,516 per year as part of a total compensation package.

With reports from Saba Riazati, Bruin reporter.