A High-Profile Law School Dean’s Sudden Departure

UC HASTINGS LAW — MEMORANDUM — WU TO STEP DOWN AS UC HASTINGS CHANCELLOR AND DEAN

From: Traynum, Elise
Sent: Thursday, November 19, 2015 3:51 PM
Subject: Wu To Step Down As UC Hastings Chancellor And Dean

Joint announcement from the UC Hastings Board of Directors and Chancellor and Dean Frank H. Wu

Frank H. Wu announced today that he will step down as Chancellor and Dean of UC Hastings on January 1, 2016.

Dean Wu began his service as Chancellor and Dean of UC Hastings in summer 2010, following a national search. In 2014, he received unanimous renewal of his appointment following a review process that included faculty, staff, students, and alumni.

“The Board of Directors is deeply grateful to Dean Wu for his extraordinary service,” said Board Chair Tom Gede. “Frank has been a change agent for UC Hastings, someone whose innovative ideas, will for decisive action, and passion for progress have led the school through a fundamentally challenging time in the history of legal education and the legal marketplace. His leadership was most visible in early action by UC Hastings to address marketplace changes for legal education, including a 25% class size reduction, while holding in-state enrollment fees constant for four years and reducing out-of-state tuition charges.”

The Board of Directors also recognizes the many accomplishments of UC Hastings under Dean Wu’s leadership, including record fundraising; securing State commitment for more than $43 million in capital projects, including a new primary academic building; additional experiential learning opportunities; the expansion of international and domestic partnerships; the enhancement of interdisciplinary research, teaching and service through the UC Hastings-UCSF Consortium; and supplementing faculty resources with three newly endowed chairs and additional hiring to tenured, tenure-track, and long-term positions each year.

“Thanks to his insight and initiative,” said Gede, “UC Hastings has achieved tremendous success and been cited nationally as an example for its peers.”

As a tangible commitment to students, Wu has also contributed more than $125,000 to the Oshima Family Scholarship Fund. Named in honor of his wife’s family, who are from Northern California, the fund has supported students pursuing public interest careers.

Wu is leaving office to return to teaching full-time and finish his long-awaited book on the Vincent Chin case. “Change is good, and this is a good time for it,” he said. “I am grateful for the opportunity to play a role in advancing UC Hastings. These are challenging times, and UC Hastings has great students, faculty, staff, alumni who will ensure the institution continues to adapt and thrive for generations to come. I thank my colleagues for their camaraderie, and the Board of Directors for their constant support.”

The Board of Directors will select an interim leadership team to guide UC Hastings while looking into a dean search.

Direct any and all media inquiries to Alex A.G. Shapiro, Director of Communications & Public Affairs.

###

The University of California Hastings College of the Law is proud to be affiliated with the greatest system of public higher education in the world, having been established in 1878 as the original law department for the UC; it also has always been independently governed, with its own Board of Directors, State appropriation, budget, and policies.

Wu to Step Down as UC Hastings Chancellor and Dean [UC Hastings College of the Law]
Moody’s revises outlook to negative for Hastings College of the Law (CA); affirms A2 [Moody’s Investors Service]