Larry N. Vanderhoef
Chancellor
University of California, Davis
Davis, CA 95616-8558
lvanderhoef@ucdavis.edu

Larry Vanderhoef was born in 1941 in the northwest reaches of Minnesota. While he frequently returned to Minnesota with his parents to visit relatives (especially on his mother's side - a family of nine children), he was reared in Wisconsin from age two after his father moved to South Milwaukee to work in a war machinery factory.

After declaring majors in about everything, including at different times mathematics, English and chemistry, he finally settled on biology and received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in 1964 and 1965 from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He moved to West Lafayette, Indiana in 1965 with his wife of two years, Rosalie Slifka Vanderhoef, to pursue a Ph.D. in plant biochemistry with Joe L. Key at Purdue University, finishing in 1969. He then returned to Wisconsin for one post-doctoral year of study at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He worked with biochemist Robert Burris for most of that year and for the subsequent three summers.

In 1970, Larry Vanderhoef was appointed Assistant Professor of Biology at the University of Illinois. He became Professor and Head of his department in 1977.

In 1980, Larry and Rosalie moved with their two children, Susan and Jonathan, ages 10 and 7 at the time, to Maryland where he became Provost at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Four years later he was hired by Chancellor Jim Meyer at UC Davis as the Executive Vice Chancellor and one-person Governing Board of the UC Davis Medical Center campus in Sacramento. During the course of his service as the Executive Vice Chancellor, Vanderhoef established the Office of University Relations and at times pinch hit as Acting Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Acting Vice Chancellor for Research. In 1991, after permanently assuming responsibility for Academic Affairs, Vanderhoef was named Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost. On April 6, 1994, the Board of Regents named Vanderhoef the fifth Chancellor of UC Davis. UC Davis, 25,000 students, is one of the nine campuses of the University of California. The campus was invited to membership in the Association of American Universities in 1996.

Larry Vanderhoef's research interests lie in the general area of plant growth and development, and he has taught classes at levels from freshman to advanced graduate study.

During the course of his career, Larry Vanderhoef has served on various review committees for national granting agencies, including the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, as well as on numerous advisory boards, executive committees, and a board of trustees, for professional societies, biotechnology institutes, international development institutes, and University accreditation organizations.

Advisory Committee Members | back to top