UCLA Appoints Julio Frenk, University Of Miami President, As New Chancellor

The University of California regents on Wednesday appointed University of Miami President Julio Frenk as UCLA's next chancellor. Frenk will lead one of the country's most competitive public universities.

"There has been an erosion of trust in higher education," Frenk said. "At this moment campus communities across the country are facing complex questions related to protecting student well being, stopping all forms of discrimination, and upholding free expression rights.”

Frenk will begin Jan. 2. His salary will be $978,000.

He succeeds Gene Block, a prolific fundraiser who oversaw UCLA for 17 years and grew its enrollment by thousands.

"This is a crucial moment for higher education. We need bold innovation," Frenk said during the regents meeting after his appointment was announced.

The biography

Like current chancellor Block, Frenk has decades of experience as an academic researcher. Frenk holds a medical degree from Mexico's UNAM university and masters and doctoral degrees from the University of Michigan. His area of expertise is health systems and the globalization of health. According to UCLA, Frenk has authored 196 academic papers, 182 articles in cultural magazines, and 29 books including two children's books.

Frenk, who is 70 years old, has served as president of the University of Miami since 2015 and was dean of the school of public health at Harvard University.

Unlike Block, Frenk has experience in national politics. He was secretary of health under former Mexican President Vicente Fox.

Frenk, who is Mexican and a naturalized U.S. citizen, will also be the first Latino chancellor to lead UCLA.

"I’ve often thought of myself as a boundary spanner, someone who has been enriched by experiences and connecting across differences," Frenk said.

Those skills will be tested as he leads a campus that is visibly divided on several fronts.

What he’ll face

On the academic side, UCLA's seeing growth in enrollment, campuses, and prestige.

The new chancellor’s set to manage growth as new facilities are built out or opened on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, and in downtown L.A., West L.A., and Santa Barbara. Frenk will also oversee UCLA’s $11 billion budget, which is set to grow this year as the university enters the Big Ten sports conference.

But some of the most visible images of the campus in recent months have to do with students and faculty protesting Israel's war effort in Gaza. Protesters have set up encampments on campus, as has happened at colleges across the country.

"We’ve had a lot of controversy, a lot of things going on, I think you’re a man of healing, you’ll help bring the campus together and we’re really excited for all you bring here," said UC Regents Chair Richard Leib.

Chancellor Block ordered a review of the way the UC Police Department handled the clearing of one such encampment in May. Additionally, UC President Michael Drake ordered an investigation into UCLA's handling of those encampments. Frenk said he's aware of the two investigations.

"I look forward to learning what is the conclusions and recommendations," Frenk said.

Frenk said there's an existing tolerance program on campus called Dialogue Across Difference that he wants to use to bridge divides.

"What I’m going to be very focused on in the next few weeks and months, is an intentional , deep listening exercise, meeting with every constituency trying to understand what are the different perspectives and then build on that," he said.

What the constituents will want

There is a lot of tension on campus related to Block’s handling of student protests over the past weeks.

“There's a lot of righteous anger, mistrust and fear directed at the administration… and that's what the climate on our campus has been like for weeks if not months,” said UCLA graduate student Desmond Fonseca.

And the faculty have frustrations too.

“Since the pandemic we've seen a shift in faculty workload both in the overall demands placed on faculty and on what relative fraction of our time we spend on research, teaching and service, not to mention compliance and bureaucracy,” said UCLA Academic Senate Chair Andrea Kasko.

“Faculty are overwhelmed and burnt out,” she said.