College calls O’Brien dean

Vanda Suvansilpakit
Published: Wednesday, January 21, 2004

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.