More than six years ago, I was named to lead the finest university in the world. For me, it was the realization of a lifetime dream. It is a great honor and special privilege to be Chancellor of UC Berkeley. It is also the toughest, most rewarding job I have ever had.

Keeping a great university at the cutting edge of higher education is not something one person can take credit for. It is like running a relay race with history. Sproul, Kerr, Seaborg, Strong, Heyns, Bowker, Heyman. That is the short list of legendary leaders who went before me and built UC Berkeley into a world-class university. And they passed the baton to me.

I would like to think I have maintained the standard of excellence they set, and even, perhaps, added to it. Now it is time for me to pass the baton.

So I am announcing today that I will step down as chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, no later than June 30, 1997. By then, I will have served in this position for seven years. I have made no decisions about my future plans. For now, I am looking forward to returning to my teaching and research and to spending more time with my family.

This decision has not been an easy one. Cal is so much a part of me, my wife, Di-Hwa, and our three children, who have grown up here and are all UC Berkeley graduates. I know we will always be a part of Cal. With the exception of a two-year stint as executive vice chancellor at UC Irvine, I have spent my entire professional career of 37 years at Berkeley. I love our students. I am proud of our faculty. I am grateful to our staff. I admire the achievements of our alumni, and I appreciate their willingness to give of themselves to support Berkeley. It is important to me that all of the Cal community understand why I am doing this and why I am doing it now.

I have chosen to leave next year because the campus is at a high point in its history. Drawing on record undergraduate applications, we have assembled a first-rate student body. The quality of our faculty remains unsurpassed. Despite severe federal budget cutbacks, our extra mural research support has grown by 35 percent to $318 million for the last academic year. And fund raising is on track to break all records....

Over much of the last few years, we have been fighting to maintain the excellence of the campus in the face of the most severe budget cutbacks in the history of the university....

We won that battle. Cal not only survived, it thrived. Last year, the National Research Council named UC Berkeley the number one research university in the nation, a very proud accomplishment for all Californians....

My concern now is to ensure that the university has strong leadership to carry it into the new millennium. The capital campaign and other initiatives that we have begun will require another long-term commitment. I realize it is time for me to pass the baton to a new generation of leaders....

In announcing my resignation, I want to make sure that President Atkinson will have ample time to choose my successor....