After more than 40 years at the University of California, Davis, as a student, faculty member and administrator, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Carolyn F. Wall has announced plans to step down from her post Dec. 31, with eventual retirement on July 1.

In the winter and spring 2002 quarters, she will be on leave, completing a commitment to the UC Office of the President to serve as chair of a UC-wide admissions processes committee and undertaking conflict management training.

"While I certainly look forward to retirement, I have spent my entire adult life on this campus and will leave behind so very much and so very many people about whom I care deeply," Wall said. "I will miss the excitement of involvement with our students and the academic enterprise of which we are a part. But I will leave with great pride in the Student Affairs staff and in our collective accomplishments as we have worked with our academic colleagues for the benefit of our students."

Chancellor Larry N. Vanderhoef praised Wall's "extraordinary talents and keen understanding of the broad educational context in which students study, learn and live."

"Carol has made significant contributions to the campus over her many years of dedicated service," Vanderhoef said. "To be perfectly frank, I hate to begin planning for her departure, but I cannot deny that this next stage in her life is richly deserved. With all my heart, I wish her all the best and thank her, personally and on behalf of UC Davis, for the strong foundation she will leave behind."

Appointed vice chancellor in 1995, Wall has guided the campus's admissions and student life programs during a period of significant growth and challenge. Under her direction, strong collaborative linkages have been established between the Office of Student Affairs and the campus's colleges and divisions. Additionally, the campus has strengthened and expanded its K-12 outreach programs to better prepare students to be competitively eligible for admission to UC, boosted the campus's collaborative efforts with area community colleges, initiated new educational programs to encourage students to make healthy life decisions and to prepare them to be active and responsible world citizens, and provided a physical infrastructure to support students' learning -- from construction of innovative student housing to planning for a major expansion of recreational and activities facilities. Earlier, she helped to create the general education and freshman seminar programs, and initiated a residential academic advising program for first-year students and a "Finish in Four" program to help students graduate within four years.

An anthropologist and linguist, Wall joined UC Davis as a lecturer in 1968, served as an assistant professor from 1972 to 1977, associate professor from 1977 to 1988 and senior lecturer from 1988 to the present. She also served as graduate adviser in the Department of Anthropology from 1972 to 1981 and as the department's acting chair in 1978; associate dean for student matters in the College of Letters and Science, 1985-91; faculty director of the Education Abroad Program, 1986-92; acting chair of the Department of Spanish and Classics, 1990-92; associate dean for undergraduate education, College of Letters and Science, 1991-95; and vice chancellor for student affairs, 1995-present.

Wall earned all three of her degrees from UC Davis: a bachelor's degree in anthropology and art history in 1963, a master's in anthropology in 1965, and a doctorate in anthropology in 1971.

She indicated that retirement will permit her to pursue the joy of travel and adventure.

"I plan to travel extensively here and abroad, with trips to China, a summer in the Oregon Cascades and a drive across Canada planned for 2002," Wall said. "I like to imagine that I shall reclaim the introverted, contemplative and rather compulsive person that I remember being before being swept up in the administrative life. I will read more, spend time with friends and family, again pursue photography and birding with dedicated attention, volunteer my services to worthy causes and, I hope, have a great deal of fun."

Robert G. Franks, associate vice chancellor for student affairs, will serve as interim vice chancellor until a national search for Wall's successor has been completed.