Carole Rossi retiring as chief campus counsel

To: UCSC Faculty and Staff

From: Chancellor Blumenthal and Campus Provost/Executive Vice Chancellor Alison Galloway

Unit Managers: Please post a paper copy of this message in your area for people who do not have regular computer access.

Retirements are bittersweet milestones—happy for individuals but sad for institutions—and so it is with mixed feelings that we announce that Chief Campus Counsel Carole Rossi plans to retire on April 1 of next year.

During Carole's tenure at UCSC, she and her team have expertly handled a wide variety of critical and often high-profile legal matters for UC Santa Cruz, from contract negotiations to issues of free speech. Her guidance on policy has been invaluable and was perhaps most evident in the development of the historic land-use settlement agreement signed in 2008 by representatives of the city and county of Santa Cruz, the campus, and neighborhood groups. That landmark agreement ushered in a new era of vastly improved "town-gown" relations, and Carole labored long hours behind the scenes to bring it to fruition.

Carole joined the University of California in 1999 and was named university counsel for UCSC in 2007; she has served as our chief campus counsel since 2008.

The campus will be hard-pressed to find a lead attorney with Carole's skill set, compassion, and personality, but that's our challenge. We will begin the process to find a replacement shortly. While she will be on the job for some months yet, please join us in congratulating Carole on her well-deserved retirement.