Charles E. Young

Charles Edward Young (December 30, 1931 – October 22, 2023), nicknamed Chuck Young, was an American university administrator and professor.

A native of California, Young led the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for 29 years as chancellor and the University of Florida for more than four years as president.

Young was born in Highland, California, on December 30, 1931.

As a youth he worked in the local orange groves.

He served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War.

After completing his military service, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, with honors, in political science from the University of California, Riverside in 1955.

While he was at UCR, he was the campus's first student body president.

He received his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in political science from UCLA in 1957 and 1960, respectively.

His dissertation is titled "The politics of political boundary making".

He worked for University of California President Clark Kerr in 1959 and 1960 on the California Master Plan for Higher Education.

Young began his UCLA career in a series of executive posts in the administration of Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy: assistant to the chancellor (1960–62), assistant chancellor (1962–63), and vice chancellor for administration (1963–68).

He also became a full professor in the political science department.

Following Chancellor Murphy's resignation, Young was named his successor by the UC Regents on July 12, 1968.

At 36, he was the nation's youngest head of a major university.

Under his leadership as chancellor from 1968 to 1997, UCLA became one of the top 10 research universities in the country, student enrollment increased from almost 29,000 to more than 35,000, and the number of faculty doubled.

The operating budget grew from $170 million to $2 billion.

Private gifts grew from $6.2 million in 1968 to $190.8 million in 1995–1996, at that point the highest total ever reached by a UC campus.

Near the end of his time in office, Young led a $1.2 billion fund-raising drive for UCLA, at the time the most ambitious ever attempted by a public university.

The Library grew from 2.8 million volumes in 1968 to 6.8 million in 1996–1997.

During Young's time at UCLA (fall 1968 through spring 1997) UCLA women won 14 NCAA team championships.

Men's teams won another 47 trophies for a total of 61.

As chair of the Pac-8's President and Chancellors group, Young led the effort to add the University of Arizona and Arizona State University to the conference.

Academic milestones during Young's tenure include UCLA's admission to membership in the Association of American Universities (1974), a top five ranking of graduate programs from the Conference Board of the Associated Research Councils (1982), and a number three ranking among university research libraries (1994–95).

In an era when the NCAA called Title IX requirements for women's athletics "Extreme", Young voluntarily expanded UCLA women's athletics even before the requirements went into effect, adding 11 varsity programs for women in 1974.

In 1978, he announced a joint program with Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science to train physicians to work in the inner city.

Young was active in a wide range of issues involving intercollegiate athletics.

He announced the new Pac-10 in 1978.

Faculty recognition included a Nobel Prize in Chemistry (Donald Cram, 1987), six National Medal of Science recipients (1970, 1989, 1993, 1994, 1996), and four MacArthur Foundation Fellows (1985, 1986, 1994, 1995).

Twice in his UCLA career Young led major academic restructuring efforts.

In 1988, his proposal created the School of Theater, Film and Television and the School of the Arts, replacing the College of Fine Arts.

In 1988, Young helped to negotiate a lucrative ABC television contract for the Rose Bowl game.

Young was also a vocal leader of reform efforts as a member of the American Council on Education (ACE), the NCAA Presidents Commission and the Knight Commission.

In 1994, his professional school restructuring effort resulted in the disestablishment of three schools: the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, the Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning, and the School of Social Welfare.

Library science became part of the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.

Architecture became part of the School of the Arts and Architecture.

Urban planning and social welfare, along with a new public policy unit, became departments in the new School of Public Policy and Social Research (now the Luskin School of Public Affairs).

UCLA also became known for the ethnic diversity of its student body during Young's tenure.

The year before Young took office, the percentage of minority students at UCLA was estimated at 12%.

The year after he retired, the percentage of minority students was 54%.

Young was a vocal supporter of affirmative action, the development and recruitment of minority faculty, and the establishment of ethnic studies centers for African American, Chicano, Asian American and American Indian cultures.