page_title: University of California
section_title: UC presidents
hierarchical_section_title: University of California / Governance / UC presidents
caption_attribution_description: English: New York, NY, December 3, 2009 -- Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, is greeted by FEMA Region II staff at an &#8220;all-hands&#8221; meeting in New York City. The visit was part of a three-day trip to the city where the Secretary also spent time with a number of private sector partners and addressed several public events. Elissa Jun/FEMA
context_page_description: The University of California is a public research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz, along with numerous research centers and academic abroad centers.
  The University of California was founded on March 23, 1868, and operated in Oakland before moving to Berkeley in 1873. Over time, several branch locations and satellite programs were established. In March 1951, the University of California began to reorganize itself into something distinct from its campus in Berkeley, with UC President Robert Gordon Sproul staying in place as chief executive of the UC system, while Clark Kerr became the first chancellor of UC Berkeley and Raymond B. Allen became the first chancellor of UCLA. However, the 1951 reorganization was stalled by resistance from Sproul and his allies, and it was not until Kerr succeeded Sproul as UC President that UC was able to evolve into a university system from 1957 to 1960. At that time, chancellors were appointed for additional campuses and each was granted some degree of greater autonomy.
context_section_description: 1868–1869 Henry Durant
  1869–1870 John LeConte
  1870–1872 Henry Durant
  1872–1875 Daniel Coit Gilman
  1875–1881 John LeConte
  1881–1885 W.T. Reid
  1885–1888 Edward S. Holden
  1888–1890 Horace Davis
  1890–1899 Martin Kellogg
  1899–1919 Benjamin Ide Wheeler
  1919–1923 David Prescott Barrows
  1923–1930 William Wallace Campbell
  1930–1958 Robert Gordon Sproul
  1958–1967 Clark Kerr
  1967–1967 Harry R. Wellman (acting president)
  1967–1975 Charles J. Hitch
  1975–1983 David S. Saxon
  1983–1992 David P. Gardner
  1992–1995 Jack W. Peltason
  1995–2003 Richard C. Atkinson
  2003–2008 Robert C. Dynes
  2008–2013 Mark Yudof
  2013–2020: Janet Napolitano
  2020-present: Michael V. Drake
  All UC presidents had been white men until 2013, when Homeland Security Secretary and former Governor of Arizona Janet Napolitano became the first woman to hold the office of UC President.  On July 7, 2020, Dr. Michael V. Drake was selected as the 21st president of the University of California system, making him the first Black president to hold the office in UC’s 152-year history. He took office on August 1, 2020.
caption: Janet Napolitano, 20th UC President, former Governor of Arizona and former United States Secretary of Homeland Security.
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D40", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.6.6", "Image DateTime": "2009:12:03 14:31:57", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "210", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:12:03 23:11:28", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:12:03 23:11:27", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, auto mode, return light not detected", "EXIF FocalLength": "52", "EXIF SubSecTime": "60", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "60", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "60", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "0", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "0", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "3478", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 2, 1, 1, 0]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "78", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}