Linda Katehi

Linda P.B. Katehi
Sixth Chancellor
Incumbent
Assumed office August 17, 2009
Personal details
Born	1954 Greece
Residence	Davis, California
Alma mater	National Technical University of Athens, Greece UCLA
Profession	Electrical Engineering

Linda P.B. Katehi is the sixth chancellor of the University of California, Davis.

Biography

Katehi was appointed chancellor by the University of California Board of Regents on May 7, 2009, effective Aug. 17, 2009. As chief executive officer, she oversees all aspects of the university’s teaching, research and public service mission. She holds UC Davis faculty appointments in electrical and computer engineering and in women and gender studies.

A member of the National Academy of Engineering, she chaired until 2010 the President’s Committee for the National Medal of Science and the Secretary of Commerce’s committee for the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. She is a fellow and board member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of many other national boards and committees.

In April 2011, Katehi was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the world’s most prestigious honorary societies.

Shortly after joining UC Davis, Katehi charged a committee with creating a new Vision of Excellence. “To fulfill our capacity as a transformative university,” Katehi said in a letter announcing the new vision, “it has also been clear that we need a renewed course of action, a new vision to guide our future.”

A number of initiatives have been launched under her leadership: the Blue Ribbon Committee on Tech Transfer and Commercialization, the Blue Ribbon Committee on Research, the Blue Ribbon Committee on Information Technology Excellence and one on Organizational Excellence.

Katehi also created the Chancellor’s Colloquium Distinguished Speaker Series to bring together distinguished scholars and government leaders who promise intellectual spark and enriching engagement with our academic community.

And in response to acts of hate and intolerance on campus in 2010, the chancellor launched the Hate-Free Campus Initiative to reaffirm the campus’s values and commitment to one another. The initiative’s effort to build a more inclusive community has included:

• The creation of “Beyond Tolerance Tuesday,” which includes free programming for student events that support a more inclusive community.
• A collaboration with the Museum of Tolerance to confront hate and bias.
• The creation of a speakers series and the Civility Project, which began with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Four graduate student “Civility Fellows” will use history and art in individual projects to illuminate the power of the “said” and the “unsaid” in uncivil exchange.

Under Katehi’s leadership, UC Davis in November 2010 co-hosted the Governors' Global Climate Summit 3: Building the Green Economy. Joined by then-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme and United Nations Environment Programme, the summit’s focus was to continue to build subnational collaboration on policies and strategies to stimulate economic growth, reduce dependence on fossil fuels, create green jobs, promote clean energy solutions and reduce greenhouse gas pollution.

Before coming to UC Davis, Katehi served as provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; the John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering and professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University; and associate dean for academic affairs and graduate education in the College of Engineering and professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan.

Since her early years as a faculty member, Katehi has focused on expanding research opportunities for undergraduates and improving the education and professional experience of graduate students, with an emphasis on underrepresented groups. She has mentored more than 70 postdoctoral fellows, doctoral and master’s students in electrical and computer engineering. Twenty-two of the 44 doctoral students who graduated under her supervision have become faculty members at research universities in the United States and abroad. Her work in electronic circuit design has led to numerous national and international awards both as a technical leader and educator, 19 U.S. patents, and an additional five U.S. patent applications. She is the author or co-author of 10 book chapters and about 650 refereed publications in journals and symposia proceedings.

Katehi received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, in 1977. She earned a master’s degree and doctorate in electrical engineering at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of California, Los Angeles, in 1981 and 1984, respectively.