University of California President Robert C. Dynes, whose four years in office have been marked by dwindling budgets and a scandal over compensation for top officials, announced Monday that he will step down by June.
Though praised by associates for his "extraordinary intellect," Dynes appears to have lost the support of key members of the UC Board of Regents who believe the 10-campus system must act more aggressively to maintain its excellence.
Dynes, 64, a former chancellor at UC San Diego, said he was stepping down to spend more time with his wife, Ann, a former UC San Diego campus counsel whom he married in March.
An upbeat Dynes said that preparing to leave his post was "bittersweet."
"I am in love with my wife, and it's time for me to spend time with her before it's too late," he told reporters in a conference call. "You never accomplish everything you want to accomplish."
As president, Dynes has been an energetic and enthusiastic advocate for a public university system widely acknowledged to be one of the world's best, with an enrollment of nearly 200,000 students.
But he also has faced a series of difficult challenges, including maintaining UC's quality with fewer resources and expanding its diversity without the help of affirmative action.
In the end, it was the university's compensation practices, including quietly awarding millions of dollars in perks to top executives without the regents' approval, that appear to have hurt him the most.
"After all the missteps and missed opportunities, Dynes has largely lost his effectiveness and his support, both above and below him," said a university official who insisted on anonymity. "A great guy in the wrong job at the wrong time."
Dynes, a physicist who worked for AT&T Bell Laboratories for 22 years before becoming a professor and then chancellor at UC San Diego, said he would focus the remaining months of his presidency on advancing UC's research partnership with industry and expanding the university's international presence.
Provost and Executive Vice President Wyatt R. Hume, considered a leading candidate to succeed Dynes, will become chief operating officer and assume responsibility for the daily management of the university. The position of chief operating officer is new and will be eliminated when Dynes' successor takes over.
