Gene D. Block, provost at the University of Virginia, will take
the position of UCLA’s next permanent chancellor, pending approval
by the UC Board of Regents at a meeting Thursday, the Los Angeles
Times reported today.
Block currently holds the second-highest position at the
University of Virginia and is a world-renown biologist still
actively conducting research, according to the UVA Web site.
The 58-year-old scientist earned his bachelor’s degree at
Stanford University and his doctoral degree at the University of
Oregon. Block received postdoctoral training at Stanford and was
then offered a position as an assistant professor of biology at UVA
in 1978, according to the UVA Web site.
Block, who is married with two children, remained at UVA, a
highly ranked public institution, throughout his career, also
serving as vice president of research.
"Block has gained recognition for his research into the cellular
and neural mechanisms by which organisms adjust sleep and
wakefulness to the day and night cycle," according to the UVA Web
site. "His most recent projects address the action of aging on
cells in the brain that form the biological clock and on
understanding the involvement of the biological clock in African
Sleeping Sickness."
The next UCLA chancellor will likely begin his tenure at the end
of this academic year, Interim Chancellor Norman Abrams said in an
interview during the summer.
Block is the second candidate for the position of UCLA
chancellor to be leaked to the media during the search process,
which has stretched on for a year. The first candidate was Provost
Deborah Freund of Syracuse University, but several days after her
name was leaked she took herself out of the running, citing family
conflicts.
The Los Angeles Times reported Freund withdrew her name because
her husband, a professor at Syracuse, was not offered a
professorship at UCLA. The University of California has a history
of offering chancellors’ spouses positions at the universities they
lead, according to Daily Bruin archives.
It has not been reported whether Block’s wife, Carol, has been
offered a position at UCLA.
UCLA officials declined to comment on the current chancellor
search, and UC officials could not be reached for comment.
With reports from Anthony Pesce and Saba Riazati, Bruin
senior staff.