After a nationwide search, Dean of UCLA’s Graduate School of Education & Information Studies Aimée Dorr was named the new University of California provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Tuesday’s special meeting of the UC Board of Regents.

After UC Provost Dr. Lawrence Pits announced his retirement in September 2011, UC President Mark Yudof began a search for his replacement following procedures developed by the UC Academic Senate. Yudof’s search also included a 15-member advisory committee made up of UC students, faculty, staff and senior academic leaders who participated in a discussion on the possible appointees. Dorr will officially take over the position on July 2.

The UC provost is the highest-ranking academic position within the 10 campuses and is responsible for setting academic policies pertaining to student admissions and graduation. The UC provost also works to further develop both UC’s place as the premiere public research institution in the world and its service to the public.

Dorr joined the UCLA faculty in 1998 and became dean of the GSE&IS in 1999. As Dean, Dorr played a crucial role in the construction of the UCLA Community School, an LA Unified School District K-12 pilot school that serves the communities of Pico- Union and Koreatown. A member of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s Education Advisory Group, Dorr also co-founded the Los Angeles Basin Education Deans group, which works to promote educational goals throughout the city.

Dorr has also served as a faculty member at Stanford University and Harvard. Before moving to UCLA, Dorr was also Associate Dean of the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California. Within the UC system, Dorr has been chair and vice chair of the UC Academic Senate and a faculty representative to the UC Board of Regents.

Dorr’s own academic background stretches back to Stanford, where she received a B.S. in mathematics and later an M.A. and a Ph.D. in psychology. Due to her background in psychology, Dorr is a fellow of the American Educational Research Association, the Association for Psychological Science and the American Psychological Association. With her research centered on media

and its affects on youth as well as the role of research in policy decision-making, Dorr has been an advisor for children’s television programs for the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. Dorr has also worked for the Institute of Medicine on children’s food marketing.

Dorr’s annual salary will be equal to her predecessor Pitt’s — $350,000. Pitt’s salary remained constant throughout his three years as provost, and Dorr’s current appointment salary is about 20 percent less than the $439,000 market median salary.

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