Karl Stark Pister

Karl S. Pister was a Chancellor Emeritus of the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC, 1991-1996), former Senior Associate to the President and Vice President for Educational Outreach of the University of California (1996-2000), chair emeritus of the governing board of the California Council on Science and Technology (1992-2013); he was also Dean and the Roy W. Carlson Professor of Engineering Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering. As Chancellor of UCSC, Pister faced an array of problems: recession-caused budget cuts, the UC Regents' controversial decision regarding affirmative action, town-gown relations, and controversies surrounding construction projects on campus. He put in place a collaborative budget process that helped the campus weather those budget storms, while at the same time maintaining faculty, staff, and student morale during a difficult period in the campus's history. He also established cordial relations with the city and county of Santa Cruz, ushering in a new era of cooperation. Throughout his tenure, Pister was a tireless advocate for university involvement in the effort to improve K-12 education in the region, and he played an important role by creating the Monterey Bay Educational Consortium, which has fostered collaboration between the campus and public schools. Pister received numerous awards, including the Berkeley Medal in 1996, the Presidential Medal of the University of California in 2000, and the Clark Kerr Medal from the University of California, Berkeley in 2006. He was elected a Fellow of the Academy in 1994 and serveed as a member of its Council.