UC Merced's founding chancellor dies

Published online on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009

The founding chancellor of UC Merced, Carol Tomlinson-Keasey, who saw the institution through its infancy, died Saturday of complications related to cancer, according to a statement from the university.

She was 66.

As the first chancellor of UC Merced from 1999 to 2006, Tomlinson-Keasey was the driving force behind creating a research university from scratch in a Valley woefully underserved by the UC system and higher education in general.

Tomlinson-Keasey watched over every step of the university's birthing pains from the campus' groundbreaking to the arrival of its first class. As a tireless champion of the university and its benefits to the San Joaquin Valley, Tomlinson-Keasey led the university as it faced off against state legislators opposed to the project, environmental lawsuits, federal regulators and local skeptics -- all the while fighting breast cancer.

"Simply put, UC Merced would not exist were it not for her visionary leadership, her tireless determination and her remarkable gift of persuasion," said UC Merced Chancellor Steve Kang in a statement after the announcement of her death.

In 1998, Tomlinson-Keasey was appointed to lead the planning efforts for UC Merced. At the time, she had been working in the UC president's office as vice provost for academic initiatives, according to a UC Merced representative.

Before her appointment, said Rep. Dennis Cardoza, there was no one in the UC system fighting for UC Merced. Cardoza and others knew that if they didn't have a chancellor for UC Merced its needs would be sidelined. "The challenge was that the other UCs didn't want to share resources. There was a new baby in the nest and the big birds didn't want to share with the little bird."

When then-UC President Richard Atkinson appointed Tomlinson-Keasey -- after some pressure from Cardoza and others -- she was not a popular choice. She had too little experience, said Cardoza. But she proved everyone wrong.

"She was tough, she was tenacious, she was smart and she was terrific," he said.

When she first arrived, recalled Cardoza, she was only on assignment, doing her job. But she soon began to really care for the plight of the Valley, said Cardoza.

"She really grew to understand how important this campus is to the Valley," he said. "She was committed to serving the diverse population that wasn't being served by the UC system."

In 1999, Tomlinson-Keasey was named UC Merced's founding chancellor but it wasn't until 2002 that ground was first broken at the future site of the university.

In October of that year, at the golden-shoveled groundbreaking ceremony, Tomlinson-Keasey told the gathered crowd why she believed in UC Merced.When the UC system opened up in 1868, she said, it was with the promise of making a university system for all, equal to the nation's best private universities.

"Our new campus, UC Merced, will help keep the promise that California made to its citizens in 1868," she said that day, according to a story in the Sun-Star.

That day, Ben Duran, president of Merced College and part of the committee that chose Tomlinson-Keasey for the chancellor post, stated why she was chosen to lead the university.

"We knew that with her at the helm, we would get this university built, in spite of ardent detractors and hurdles that at times seemed insurmountable," he said, according to a story in the Sun-Star.

Duran's words ended up being prophetic.

"I think she was given a once-in-a-lifetime task to take on a challenge and I think that was Carol's spirit," said Larry Salinas, associate vice chancellor for governmental relations at UC Merced. "The campus is her legacy." Salinas, who was hired by Tomlinson-Keasey in 2000 as a liaison between lawmakers and UC Merced, said her task was not an easy one. From the start, she and her staff were beset on all sides, he said.