The Regents of the University of California make up the governing board of the University of California. The Board has 26 full (i.e., voting) members:

• The majority (18 Regents) are appointed by the Governor of California for 12-year terms.
• One Student Regent is appointed by the Board for a one-year term.
• The remaining 7 Regents are ex officio members. They are the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Speaker of the Assembly, Superintendent of Public Instruction, president and vice president of the Alumni Associations of UC, and the UC president.

The Board also has two faculty non-voting members. By custom, the incoming Student Regent serves as a non-voting Regent-designate from the date of appointment (usually in September) until beginning his or her formal term the following July 1.

The vast majority of the Regents appointed by the Governor historically have consisted of lawyers, politicians and businessmen. Over the past two decades, it has been common that UC Regents appointees have donated relatively large sums of money either directly to the Governor's election campaigns or indirectly to party election groups.

As with other public university systems nationwide, the board of regents is treated as the real party in interest for all purposes under California law. All actions of the university are done in their name, all degrees are conferred in their name, all UC property is held in their name (and is marked by signs indicating "Property of the Regents of the University of California"), all bank accounts are held in their name (and all checks must be written as payable to "UC Regents"), and all lawsuits involving the University always refer specifically to the regents. This is notable because most corporations (especially private ones) are treated by the law as a legal entity separate from their boards and employees, and lawsuits against them are addressed to the corporation or university itself, not its board of directors or trustees.

Regents

Current members

• Appointed by Gov. Wilson:
  • Joanne Corday Kozberg (appointed 1998; term expires March 1, 2010)

• Appointed by Gov. Davis:
  • Sherry L. Lansing (appointed 1999; term expires March 1, 2010)
  • Odessa P. Johnson (appointed 1999; reappointed 2000; term expires March 1, 2012)
  • George M. Marcus (appointed 2000; term expires March 1, 2012)
  • Monica Lozano (appointed 2001; term expires March 1, 2013)
  • Richard C. Blum (appointed 2002; term expires March 1, 2014)
  • Norman J. Pattiz (appointed 2001; reappointed 2003; term expires March 1, 2015)

• Appointed by Gov. Schwarzenegger:
  • Frederick Ruiz (appointed 2004; term expires March 1, 2016)
  • Paul Wachter (appointed 2004; term expires March 1, 2016)
  • Russell S. Gould (appointed 2005; term expires March 1, 2017)
  • Leslie Tang Schilling (appointed 2005; term expires March 1, 2013)
  • Eddie Island (appointed 2005; term expires March 1, 2017)
  • William De La Pena (appointed 2006; term expires March 1, 2018)
  • Bruce D. Varner (appointed 2006; term expires March 1, 2018)
  • Bonnie Reiss (appointed 2008; term expires March 1, 2020)
  • Hadi Makarechian (appointed 2008; term expires March 1, 2020)
  • Charlene Zettel (appointed 2009; term expires March 1, 2021)
  • George Kieffer (appointed 2009; term expires March 1, 2021)
• Student Regent
  • Jesse Bernal (term expires June 30, 2010)

• Ex-Officio Regents
  • Arnold Schwarzenegger (Governor)
  • Karen Bass (Assembly Speaker)
  • Jack O'Connell (Superintendent of Public Instruction)
  • Mark Yudof (UC President)
  • Ronald W. Stovitz (President, Alumni Associations of UC, 2009–2010)
  • Yolanda Nunn Gorman (Vice-President, Alumni Associations of UC, 2009–2010)

Notable past Regents

• Benjamin B. Redding (1880–1882)
• Timothy Guy Phelps (1880–1899)
• Leland Stanford (1882–1883)
• Phoebe Hearst (1897–1919)
• William H. Crocker (1908–1937)
• John Francis Neylan (1928-1955)
• Paul Peek (1939–1940)
• Edwin W. Pauley (1940–1972)
• Stanley Mosk (1940–1941)
• Dorothy Buffum Chandler (1954–1968)
• Thomas M. Storke (1955–1960)
• Norton Simon (1960–1976)
• William M. Roth (1961–1977)
• Elinor Raas Heller (1961–1976)
• Fred Dutton (1962–1978)
• H. R. Haldeman (President, AAUC, 1967–1968)
• William French Smith (1968–1990)
• Gregory Bateson (1978-80)
• Willis Harman (1980–1990)
• Sheldon Andelson (1982–1987)
• Clair Burgener (1988–1997)
• John F. Henning (1989-1997)
• Howard H. Leach (1990–2001)
• Ward Connerly (1993–2005)
• David S. Lee (1994–2006)
• John J. Moores (1999–2007)

Honorary Regents

In its early years, UC had thirteen Honorary Regents, with ten appointed in 1868. Some were appointed following service as Regent while Governor.

• Frederick Low (1868), 9th Governor of California from 1863 to 1867; considerd the "father of the University of Caliornia"
• Andrew J. Moulder (1868), State Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1862–1863; a founder of Minns’ Evening Normal School in San Francisco in 1857 and of the first California State Normal School in San Jose, approved by the Legislature in 1862
• Edward Tompkins (1868–1872)
• S.F. Butterworth (1868–1873)
• Joseph M. Moss (1868–1874)
• William Chapman Ralston (1868–1875), founder of the Bank of California
• John B. Felton (1868–1877)
• Isaac Friedlander (1868–1869)
• Augustus J. Bowie (1868–1880)
• John S. Hager (1868–1890), California State Senator and district judge; United States Senator from California (1873–1875)
• Louis Sachs (1869–1875)
• Henry H. Haight (1872), 10th Governor of California; signed the Charter of the University of California on March 23, 1868
• Andrew Smith Hallidie (1873), "regarded as the inventor of the cable car and father of the present day San Francisco cable car system"; President of the San Francisco Mechanics' Institute 1868–1877 and 1893–1895

See also

• Government of California
• University of California Students Association

Legal cases

• Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
• Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California
• Moore v. Regents of the University of California
• USL v. BSDi
• Hamilton v. Regents of the University of California

References

• Former Regents are listed chronologically at UC Berkeley's history site

External links

• Regents of the University of California official site
• UC Democracy Project
• 2008 Meet the Regents article
• The UCSB Disorientation Guide's article on the UC Regents