A Legacy of Transformation
As his nearly 12 years as chancellor comes to an end, Kim A. Wilcox leaves a legacy that continues to shape UCR’s remarkable growth and impact on campus and beyond
By Sheree Winslow | Photos by Stan Lim
I f there were a reality TV series that searched the country for the best laugh, Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox might walk away with the top prize. His resonant “hah!” is distinct in sound and volume, an audible marker that can be used to find him if he is within earshot. In 2023, when “The College Tour” host Alex Boylan interviewed the chancellor, he mentioned he had heard that Wilcox had the No. 1 laugh in higher education.
Photos taken at UC Riverside events often show Wilcox with his head thrown back mid-laugh while talking with community members. He’s filmed a series of satirical fall welcome videos, sometimes riding around campus in a golf cart, chuckling with students while attempting to learn new trends and slang. So numerous are his laughing outtakes that they were made into a compilation video — a Wilcox laugh track.
But behind that hearty guffaw, Wilcox is serious about leading UCR. During his nearly 12-year tenure, he has championed the university’s needs, completed its first comprehensive campaign, and overseen growth across the entire campus — enrollment, faculty, physical footprint, research, and reputation — while also managing the myriad challenges of a global pandemic. As he steps down this summer from a role he has held since August 2013, he leaves behind a legacy that can best be described with two words he often uses to characterize UCR — “remarkable” and “transformative.”
EXPANSIVE GROWTH
For those familiar with the campus before Wilcox’s arrival, the most obvious changes dot the landscape. Approximately 2.4 million square feet of new instructional, research, residential, and community spaces reflect UCR’s growth during his tenure.
“Chancellor Wilcox has had a profound impact on our campus that is visible,” said Jacqueline Norman, UCR’s campus architect.
By the start of the millennium, enrollment was increasing at a steady rate. The trend continued under Wilcox, growing an additional 24%. By fall 2024, the total enrollment of 26,384 was double what it had been in fall 2000. For a time, the rapid growth squeezed space to the point that UCR leased a movie theater off campus for large classes.
To support the increases, Wilcox made faculty hiring a priority in his early days. This past fall, instructional faculty numbers were 35% greater than in 2013. The Student Success Center began hosting classes in 2021. The new School of Business Building opened in Fall 2024.
Several new buildings have also been constructed to provide additional classrooms, offices, and study spaces. Two new schools opened under Wilcox, the School of Medicine in 2013 and the School of Public Policy in 2015. After approval to expand medical education and admit more students, a second School of Medicine building opened in 2023.
Additionally, the Multidisciplinary Research Building (MRB) opened in 2019, and the Plant Research I facility and Center for Simulated Patient Care opened in 2021, providing state-of-the-art equipment and space for researchers and students. The MRB also supports economic development with a wet lab used to incubate life sciences startup companies. In 2023, UCR research expenditures surpassed $200 million for the first time, up from $130 million in 2013.
As Wilcox departs, additional construction is still in progress. The University Teaching and Learning Facility, scheduled for completion in fall 2026, will add more classrooms along with specialized labs and studios. The building was made possible in part through the Inland Rising initiative, special legislation that secured funding for expansion at UCR and UC Merced.
“These new buildings have provided critically needed new space for research and instruction,” Norman said.
UCR’s growth trajectory parallels a population boom in Inland Southern California that has strained housing needs. When the North District II student housing complex opens in summer 2025, UCR will have added 6,300 beds since 2019. Other residences completed in the last 12 years include the North District I, Glen Mor Phase II, and Dundee housing complexes.
For an increasingly residential campus, UCR has also invested in facilities to enhance campus living and community engagement. The new Student Health and Counseling Center, opened in 2023, provides top-tier medical and mental health services while the Glasgow Dining Hall, opened in 2020, offers a wide-ranging menu in a two-story space.
ON THE RISE
When U.S. News & World Report published its annual college rankings in September 2013, UCR was dropping in standing. Wilcox was an outspoken critic of ranking systems and, in an interview with the Washington Post, questioned formulas that favor wealth and perception instead of the measures on which UCR excelled — graduation and retention rates, affordability, and opportunity for underprivileged students.
At a national conference, Wilcox made these points to an audience that included leaders from U.S. News. They invited UCR to learn about their formula to improve in rank. Wilcox explained that wasn’t the problem. Ultimately, his criticisms created a dialogue about measures of social mobility and student success that led to significant changes in future college rankings.
In 2018, UCR became America’s fastest rising university when it jumped to the No. 35 public university position, rising 39 points in the overall ranking. The following year, UCR was named the No. 1 university in a new U.S. News ranking for social mobility. For six consecutive years, UCR has been in the No. 1 or No. 2 spot, achieving the top ranking four times.
“Kim is a champion for student success.”
— Cindy Larive, Former UCR Provost
As other outlets looked to highlight social mobility and student success measures, UCR skyrocketed in rankings. In 2019, Money Magazine dubbed UCR the fourth-most transformative public university. Other impressive placements followed. Forbes put UCR No. 12 on its list of America’s Best Value Colleges, Business Insider ranked UCR No. 2 for financial aid, and CNBC listed UCR No. 14 for colleges that pay off the most. The university was also recognized by the Chronicle of Higher Education as No. 1 for retention of Pell Grant recipients.
“Kim is a champion for student success, and improving retention and graduation rates became an important focus for the campus,” said UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Cindy Larive, who served as provost at UCR from 2017 to 2019. “So many students benefited from this important work.”
Larive said one of her proudest moments at UCR was when the campus received the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities 2016 Project Degree Completion Award, which recognizes public universities that are increasing degree completion rates and total numbers of undergraduate degrees awarded while closing achievement gaps across student populations.
As a founding member of the University Innovation Alliance (UIA), an organization funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Wilcox, along with 13 other university leaders, worked to increase the number of low-income students who graduate, not only at UCR but across the country.
“The UIA was started by a small group of university chancellors and presidents, including Kim, and galvanized 11 institutions dedicated to increasing the number of low-income graduates,” said Portland State University President Ann Cudd, who previously served as the UIA liaison while vice provost at the University of Kansas, where she first worked with Wilcox. “This was the big idea: That big, public access institutions can affect social mobility at scale.”
She said participating as a liaison changed the way she thinks about higher education and shaped her leadership path toward similar goals.
“What started as a bold experiment continues to grow and share innovations that are having a real impact on how universities are improving lives and livelihoods,” Cudd said.
JOINING THE PRESTIGIOUS AAU
Improving measures of student success was not accidental. One of the long-held goals for the campus was admission to the Association of American Universities (AAU), a group consisting of 71 universities that conduct the majority of academic research in the country.
An invitation to join the AAU required that the university reach many quantifiable benchmarks, one of which was related to graduation rates. After Wilcox worked with campus leaders to implement recommendations from the Graduation Rate Task Force, the rates for first-time, full-time first-year students improved 18 percentage points between 2013 and 2022.
In 2023, UCR was admitted to the AAU, an important milestone that is among the most significant achievements to happen under Wilcox’s leadership. In addition to a rise in graduation rates, the invitation followed achievements in faculty research activity and book publication as well as student success.
“Kim has been an incredible advocate for UCR,” said Kate Sweeny, associate dean for Graduate Academic Affairs and a professor of psychology. “He has argued tirelessly at various levels for UCR’s needs and ambitions, and our rising profile and admission to the AAU are thanks in large part to his efforts.”
Sweeny, who has been at UCR since 2008, said she has many fond memories of Wilcox and his iconic laugh, but her favorite memory involves tears.
“At the gathering to announce our AAU status, Kim gave a wonderful speech, and he teared up as he talked about how we achieved that goal without for one second compromising what we do best as a campus — serving students who are so often left behind,” she said. “When I talk about what makes UCR great, that’s my favorite story to tell.”
Wilcox’s unwavering dedication to UCR is recognized by both members of the campus community and those in the broader higher education sphere. Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, said he regards Wilcox as “one of the nation’s very best campus leaders.”
“His vision for an institution that is built on the idea of inclusive excellence has propelled UCR to the top ranks of American universities,” Mitchell said. “His constant emphasis on opening doors for students, scholars, and community members has created a new model of a world-class university, one that is as connected to its community as it is to the academic world.”
A FINAL NOTE OF APPRECIATION
For the last five years, I’ve provided communications support to Chancellor Wilcox. I’m one of a small support staff that keeps tabs on his calendar to ensure he is prepared for the full schedule of meetings he has each day, typically starting early in the morning and regularly lasting late into the evening. I’ve had the opportunity to observe his leadership as he navigated the typical challenges that come with a chief executive role as well as the unique and severe test of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As I write this, campus leaders across the country are facing upheaval in federal research funding. I’ve heard the chancellor express concern when addressing tough issues, but I’ve never heard him complain. Instead, day after day, I have watched him remain laser-focused on achieving new levels of excellence in line with the university’s values and mission. Even after announcing that he would leave the job after the end of the academic year, he has pursued new initiatives. He always seems to have one more thing he wants to do.
Bella Merlin, distinguished professor of theater, film, and digital production, offered her reflection upon transferring to UCR from another campus.
“I was struck by Kim’s approachability, his willingness to see the positive in even the most challenging circumstances,” Merlin said, “His desire to connect directly with each of us on campus — whether we’re trimming trees or awarding degrees.”
Mitchell, who first met Wilcox while serving as the under secretary of education during the Obama administration, said what he appreciates most about Wilcox is his humility.
“Whether [visiting] the White House, presenting to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, or working to redesign the Carnegie Classifications of Higher Education, Kim presents ideas thoughtfully, engagingly, and with a great deal of deference to his peers,” Mitchell said. “In the end, more often than not, Kim’s style, as well as the quality of his ideas, carry the day. I’ve never gone wrong following Kim’s lead.”
Dr. Mabel Rice, a former colleague at the University of Kansas, shared similar thoughts, noting that while good people will follow Wilcox, he can’t be replaced.
“His commitment to higher education for those who wish to learn, supported by his wisdom, energy, ability to read people, and effectiveness as an advocate for recognition of earned accomplishments, are a special mix,” Rice said. “After all, his brand is an enthusiastic laugh, the first step on a pathway to many good outcomes.”
Top 5 Chancellor Wilcox Videos
Chancellor Wilcox leaves behind a legacy of growth and academic excellence, but let’s not forget the times he reminded us not to take ourselves too seriously. From learning hip slang from students while riding around campus in a golf cart to competing against Scotty in our own version of the Olympics, here are five of our favorite chancellor videos: