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Chancellor Albert Carnesale sits at the UC Board of Regents meeting at UC San Francisco on Thursd

SAN FRANCISCO — As he gets ready to close a nine-year chapter of his life, Chancellor Albert Carnesale will have many lasts.

Last sporting event.

Last day of class.

And Thursday, Carnesale attended his last meeting of the UC Board of Regents before he steps down as chancellor June 30.

Like a student who always sits in the same seat during lectures, Carnesale took his usual spot on the far right side of the front row in the quaint lecture hall where most of the regents meetings are held.

He remained stoic during most of the meeting, his concentration broken occasionally as he checked his BlackBerry wireless e-mail device.

The regents meet every two months, and in all his years as chancellor, Carnesale said he has been to perhaps every single meeting.

“I may have missed one in nine years,” he said. “It’s a high priority for UCLA and it’s a high priority for me to make sure that we’re represented at the meetings.”

Many of the regents themselves cannot boast such an impeccable attendance record. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a regent by virtue of his position, has yet to attend a meeting.

This was Carnesale’s last meeting as chancellor, but he is not leaving the UC for good.

Carnesale will take a one-year sabbatical, during which he plans to spend most of his time at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government preparing syllabi for his return to UCLA as a professor of public policy and mechanical and aerospace engineering.

As Regents Chairman Gerald Parsky said, Carnesale will be leaving his post, but he “is staying in the family.”

Carnesale said he has mixed emotions about leaving his post, but he said “it’s an important time to return to my scholarly work.”

Regent Norman Pattiz, who considers Carnesale “a friend for whom I have great respect,” said he has known Carnesale for seven or eight years. The two work together occasionally outside of the university setting, as Carnesale is a member of the board of directors for Westwood One, a radio network founded and chaired by Pattiz.

“I think that Al Carnesale is a man of the highest integrity and with an international reputation that has brought great honor and credibility to UCLA,” Pattiz said. “Now that he is returning to academia ... I think that he will continue to do so.”

In his last meeting, Carnesale learned about his own future financial situation as the regents approved his salary after he steps down. He will earn over $300,000 over the next year and over $200,000 when he returns as a professor.