UC Regents approve Jack Hu as next chancellor of UC Riverside

The University of California Board of Regents approved the appointment and compensation of Jack Hu as chancellor of the UC Riverside campus, effective on or about July 15, 2025, the board said at its public meeting.

The item was introduced in open session by Executive Vice President Rachel Nava, who said the appointment and compensation were being presented as “effective on or about 07/15/2025 as presented in closed session.” The board then conducted a roll-call vote and approved the appointment.

The appointment follows a national search and closed-session deliberations. President Drake said the search committee spent months establishing criteria, meeting with campus groups and assessing candidates; he described the selection as “a handing off of the baton” from the retiring chancellor and emphasized the campus’s strong community ties. President Drake said Hu “rose to the top of our list because of your extensive experience, your qualifications, and your collaborative relationships with faculty and students and staff and administrators and actually politicians and alumni and the broader community.”

In remarks accepting the appointment, Jack Hu said he was “truly honored and humbled” and expressed gratitude to the search advisory committee, the board and others who supported him. He described his personal background and academic career and thanked colleagues and mentors by name.

Board and university speakers summarized Hu’s record: more than 30 years in academic leadership; service as senior vice president and provost at the University of Georgia; prior service as vice president for research at the University of Michigan leading a research enterprise described in the meeting as a $1.5 billion operation; membership in the National Academy of Engineering; roughly $46 million in external funding over his career; nearly 200 publications and multiple patents. Speakers also noted UC Riverside’s recent membership in the Association of American Universities and the campus’s recognition for social mobility.

The meeting record shows no additional formal directions or follow-up assignments tied to the appointment. The board’s action was a formal approval of the appointment and compensation package as presented; the exact motion mover and seconder were not specified in the public transcript excerpt, and the detailed roll-call vote record appears in the meeting minutes.

UC Riverside community stakeholders named in the discussion included campus faculty, staff, students, alumni and regional partners; speakers described goals for expanding access, advancing research and strengthening regional engagement under Hu’s leadership. The retiring chancellor, Wilcox, was acknowledged during remarks but no additional personnel or policy changes were decided at this meeting.