By Johnny Cruz, UC Riverside
UC Riverside Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox has announced that he will retire in the summer of 2025 after nearly 12 years leading the university. Wilcox led UC Riverside during a season in which it emerged as one of America’s leading research universities and the national leader of the social mobility and student success movement.
He announced his plans in a letter to the campus community in which he celebrated a campus culture of shared values around the university’s mission. “While I take pride in our achievements, I am even prouder of the fact that we have upheld our core values,” Wilcox said.
UC President Michael V. Drake, M.D. lauded Wilcox for his transformative leadership and service to the campus.
“Under Chancellor Wilcox’s leadership, UC Riverside has reached the top ranks of research universities while also serving as a national leader for inclusive excellence and social mobility,” Drake said. “Whether through its admission to the American Association of Universities, or the addition of a leading medical school to improve the health of Californians, the entire region has benefitted from the progress UC Riverside has achieved during Chancellor Wilcox’s tenure. UC Riverside exemplifies what any university – and particularly a public university – should be: a home for academic and research excellence that values the belonging of its whole community.”
By every meaningful metric, UC Riverside grew in size, stature, and excellence during Wilcox’s tenure. Achievements at the university during this time include:
- Addition of over 5,000 students
- Addition of nearly 200 tenure-track faculty members, including two Nobel Prize winners
- A surge in the four-year graduation rate of 18 percentage points
- Research funding reaching and exceeding $200 million for the first time
- More than 2.4 million square feet of building space added to the campus
- Expansion of a new School of Medicine and School of Public Policy
- Successful completion of the university’s first comprehensive campaign, Living the Promise
A signature moment for Wilcox was UC Riverside’s invitation to join the Association of American Universities in 2023, a goal for the university for more than a decade. When announcing the university’s invitation to the AAU, Wilcox described it as “a historic moment for UC Riverside; one of the campus’s greatest achievements.”
Wilcox has been recognized for influencing a shift in the national conversation about what constitutes quality in higher education.
In a 2015 Washington Post article, “UC Riverside vs. U.S. News: A university leader scoffs at the rankings,” Wilcox critiqued higher education rankings publications for recognizing wealth and exclusivity over access and effectiveness. Wilcox delivered this message in op-ed pages, at national conferences, and through higher education advocacy organizations.
Three years later, U.S. News revised its rankings formula and introduced the social mobility rankings. UC Riverside rose faster than any university in the U.S. and was ranked No. 1 in the country for social mobility.
“The old adage that ‘You can be an excellent university, or you can be an inclusive university, but not both!’ no longer holds true. UC Riverside has redefined the standards for what universities can achieve,” Wilcox said.
At the time of his retirement, Wilcox’s 12-year term as Chancellor will be surpassed only by Ivan Hinderaker, who led UC Riverside from 1964 to 1979. Wilcox will step down at the conclusion of the 2024-25 academic year.
The UC Office of the President will soon launch a national search for a new Chancellor at UC Riverside.