Office of the Chancellor | Chancellor Vanderhoef

Background Larry N. Vanderhoef was appointed chancellor of the University of California, Davis, in April 1994. UC Davis, with some 30,000 students, is one of 10 UC campuses and one of a select group of 62 North American universities admitted to membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU). Larry Vanderhoef He joined the campus in 1984 as executive vice chancellor and provost. During his tenure as chancellor, the campus was invited to membership in the AAU; increased its extramural awards from $169.1 million to $544 million annually, earning a National Science Foundation (NSF) research funding ranking of 12th in the U.S. among public universities; expanded classroom, lab, clinical and office space by 2 million square feet, with 1 million more to be built over the next five years; completed the transformation of an ailing county hospital to an academically distinguished and financially sound regional medical center; and made distinctive strides in recruiting a diverse and accomplished faculty and student body. Chancellor Vanderhoef was honored by the Sacramento (California) Business Journal as one of the 20 people who have contributed most substantially to California’s capital region over the past 20 years. As well, the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce named him Sacramentan of the Year in 2004. The 2006 Northern California International Leadership Award was presented to him by the Northern California World Trade Center and the California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency in recognition of his efforts to increase the campus’s international engagement. Also that year, he was elected an honorary member of the World Innovation Foundation. In 2004 he led a UC Davis delegation to Iran in an effort to promote dialogue and scholar exchange, and to promote generally the notion of crossing boundaries to build greater understanding and good will – a continuing personal and professional effort. His research interests lie in the general area of plant growth and development, and in the evolution of the land-grant universities. He has taught classes from freshman level to advanced graduate study. Chancellor Vanderhoef has served on various national commissions addressing graduate and international education, the role of a modern land-grant university and accrediting issues. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in biology from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and a Ph.D. in plant biochemistry from Purdue University. Previously, he held faculty positions at the University of Illinois, where he also served as a department head, and at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he was appointed provost. He was awarded honorary doctoral degrees by Purdue University and by Inje University in Korea, and an honorary professorship of China Agricultural University.