Chancellor Kang's humility, skills seen as good fit for UC Merced

By MICHELLE HATFIELD
mhatfield@modbee.com

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MERCED -- Steve Kang has become a road warrior.

In the first year of his chancellorship at the University of California at Merced, Kang has put more than 20,000 miles on his university-funded car -- a 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid that he and wife Mia made sure to purchase at a Merced dealership.

The extent of Kang's travels is a part of the job -- he's leading the newest UC campus and the one with probably the largest and most underserved area, a stretch of 240 miles from Stockton to Bakersfield. He's journeyed to meet with politicians, school leaders, business owners, donors, community members and alumni to see how UC Merced can better serve the area.

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What they're saying about Steve Kang
Accomplishments
- Getting UC Merced closer to permit approval from the Army Corps of Engineers for campus expansion and an adjacent university residence community
- Starting a strategic planning process to guide the university's academic future
- Drumming up community support for a medical school
Goals
- Beef up student recruitment
- Solve budget issues facing the campus, including lack of physical space for professors, students and research
- Continue paving the road to a UC Merced medical school
- Continue research initiatives among professors, focusing on issues specific to the Central Valley such as agriculture and water and air quality
- Academic planning -- "Where are you going to be putting your resources? What do you want to be the best in the world at? You can't be the best at everything," UC President Robert Dynes said.
UC Merced Facts
- Year opened: 2005
- Number of students: 1,800
- Number of employees: 884
- Annual budget: $100 million
- Size of campus: 18 buildings, 105 acres
- Academics: 17 majors, 17 minors
- Number of alumni: 76
- Estimated amount of money generated by university: $1.2 billion since 2000
Biography
Born in 1945 in South Korea, the oldest of five children; his Korean name, Sung-Mo, roughly translates into "castle model structure"; served mandatory time in the South Korean military, then attended Yonsei University in Seoul; transferred to Yonsei's sister college in New Jersey, Fairleigh Dickinson University; graduated with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering; went on to earn a master's and doctorate in engineering; he taught and then served as an administrator at colleges in New Jersey, Illinois and California; worked at AT&T Bell Laboratories; led UC Santa Cruz's school of engineering; wife Mia is a retired computer analyst; two adult children are graduate students in California and Indiana.

Salary: $295,000 a year; $9,000 annual car stipend; university-owned residence on Remington Court
Quick Hits
- Car: A 1999 Honda Accord and a 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid purchased with Kang's monthly car stipend.
- Starbucks order: Regular coffee
- iPod playlist: Kang does not have an iPod, but he listens to classical and opera music.
- Type of cell phone: Treo, which Kang calls a "lifeline" because of its e-mail access.
- Favorite book: The Bible; "In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best Run Companies"; and "The World is Flat," about international culture
- Favorite movie: "Chariots of Fire," a 1981 movie about British athletes preparing for and competing in the 1924 Summer Olympics. Kang loves the movie so much, its theme song was played at his inauguration.
- Favorite TV show: Kang usually watches news on TV, mainly CNN and Fox News.
- Most rewarding professional experience: Being named chancellor of UC Merced. "I dearly wanted to have this opportunity," he said.
- Most challenging professional experience: While he worked at AT&T, the company chose Kang to lead a group building the company's first microprocessor chip to compete with the likes of IBM. Kang said it's been his most challenging project, with intense pressure. The team had one failure, but was successful in the end. Still, Kang remembers plenty of long days and sleepless nights.
- Favorite place to live, besides Merced: Teaneck, N.J., where Kang went to Fairleigh Dickinson University. "It's my second hometown. It was my first impression of U.S. universities," he said.
-- Michelle Hatfield
CSU Stanislaus president has a passion that shows

Each Central Valley town will play an important role in UC Merced's success. The university was placed in Merced to serve valley students, and to add to valley residents' quality of life through an educated populace and research specific to the region's needs, such as agriculture and air quality.

With a little more than 1,800 students attending UC Merced in its third year, the university's second chancellor has his work cut out for him. Administrators originally projected 3,000 students on campus at this point.

The clock is ticking, as extra start-up funding from the UC will disappear in two years.

System President Robert Dynes and the UC regents have faith in Kang, who taught at colleges across the nation, led engineering teams at AT&T's Bell Laboratories and built up UC Santa Cruz's school of engineering as dean. His ability to get people on board and to network for research and funding partnerships makes Kang, 63, a good fit to take UC Merced out of infancy and into maturity.

A different kind of leader

Carol Tomlinson-Keasey, who stepped down as founding chancellor to return to teaching, is remembered for her stiff demeanor and commanding presence. (After going back to the classroom in 2006, Tomlinson-Keasey quietly retired in June, moving to Georgia. She couldn't be reached for comment.)

"Carol had the skills to build the university, Chancellor Kang has the skills to build it up," said Josh Franco, student body president in 2006-07 and a public pol-icy graduate.

Dwarfed in size by many of UC Merced's students, Kang carries himself more passively than most university presidents, but has a vigorous determination that shines through his understated blue and gray suits.

Kang is soft-spoken and humble. Does that mean he'll be steamrolled by faculty and administrators?

"He's disarming, but I'll remind you, he built up a school of engineering at UC Santa Cruz through focus and humble expression," said Dynes, Kang's boss until Dynes' scheduled resignation in June. "You don't need to be overly or physically aggressive to get what you need to get done."

Kang said he believes the best leaders are those who earn trust by example.

"You have to be part of a team. If you're too aggressive, you won't get what you want," Kang said. "I believe in servant leadership. I'm not into punitive leadership. People will bring out their best when they're happy."

That includes students, with whom he tries to mingle during what little free time he has outside of events and committee meetings. Kang eats lunch with students in the cafeteria, attends sporting events, invites student leaders to his house for barbecues, and tries to hold open hours each semester so the average student can come in and have his ear.

In February, those students asked Kang about offering more summer classes, the high cost of printing lecture notes required by some professors, and how they can get internships in his office.