The University of California, Santa Barbara has announced the appointment of Marc Fisher as Associate Vice Chancellor for Campus Design and Facilities, a new position.
Fisher, who currently serves as campus architect at UCLA, will take up his new duties on the Santa Barbara campus on December 1.
The associate vice chancellor will lead UCSB's efforts to design, build, and maintain a campus that strives to equal in its appearance and functioning the academic stature of the institution and that takes maximum advantage of its magnificent site. The 989-acre main campus is located at the edge of the Pacific Ocean and has the scenic Santa Ynez Mountains as a backdrop.
The new associate vice chancellor is responsible for the divisions of Design and Construction, Physical Facilities, and the contracting services and financial and administrative services that support those divisions, as well as Parking and Transportation Services.
"As we are engaged in an ambitious master-planning process for the architecture and landscaping of our campus, this new position is extremely important and timely," said UCSB Chancellor Henry T. Yang. "In fact, we currently have many capital projects either under way or planned. We are delighted that Marc will be joining us, and we are confident that the contributions he makes will be appreciated and enjoyed by members of the campus community and the public."
The capital projects budget of UCSB's Design and Construction division is currently $750 million. Several new buildings will be completed or in construction by 2007. Structures for which ground already has been broken that are to be completed in 2004 are new buildings for engineering and the sciences, marine sciences, life sciences, and intercollegiate athletics.
"We felt it was very important for the campus to bring these many related functions together through this position," said George Pernsteiner, vice chancellor for administrative services. "We also felt it was critical to have someone with both a big vision and an eye for detail in this post, and with Marc Fisher's appointment we have accomplished that."
Fisher has been UCLA's campus architect and director of design for the past seven years. In those positions he has been responsible for developing and maintaining the campus's evolving master plan along with the corresponding architectural, urban design, and landscape guidelines. He also heads an eight-member design group that supports the campus's Capital Programs division.
Prior to joining UCLA, Fisher was vice president of Emmet L. Wemple and Associates, a landscape architecture firm based in Pasadena. Earlier, he served as a project designer for Barton Myers Associates, Architects and Planners, in Los Angeles, and Fisher Gordon Architects in Washington, D.C.
A 1981 graduate of West Virginia University, Fisher earned a Master of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. A registered architect in the State of California, he is a member of the American Institute of Architects and the Society of College and University Planners.
"It is a great honor to accept this appointment and to join the UCSB campus community," said Fisher.
"I believe that the Santa Barbara campus occupies the most spectacular setting in the University of California system.
The opportunity to enhance the built environment commensurate with this setting was enticing. The academic excellence of the institution and the warm reception I received in Santa Barbara was convincing.
I, along with my family, look forward to our move to Santa Barbara."
Fisher and his wife, Kris Miller Fisher, also an architect, are the parents of an infant son. The family currently resides in Sierra Madre.
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