Dr. Kim A. Wilcox serves as the ninth chancellor of UC Riverside where he has overseen transformational change since assuming his role in 2013. During Chancellor Wilcox’s tenure, UCR has become a national model for delivering groundbreaking research while achieving student success, particularly across socio-economic and ethnic categories.

Recently, UCR became a member of the Association of American Universities. UCR has also received the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) “Project Degree Completion Award.” Named the No. 1 public university in the country for social mobility by U.S. News for four years running, UCR has also been described as “fastest rising” for its rapid ascendency through rankings and “most transformative” for its impact on students.

As the university’s chief executive, Chancellor Wilcox has led expansive growth in research, enrollment, graduation rates, and physical development. The campus has added schools of medicine and public policy. Enrollment has grown more than 25%. UCR has also grown its faculty, adding two Nobel Prize winners while increasing the racial, ethnic, and gender diversity among incoming faculty members. To support these increases, the campus has added more than 2 million square feet in leading-edge laboratory facilities, state-of-the-art classrooms, and residential and dining facilities.

Wilcox was one of the founding leaders of the University Innovation Alliance (UIA) and the alliance of Hispanic Serving Research Universities (HSRU). He serves on the Council of Competitiveness and on boards for numerous organizations including the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities, Growing Inland Achievement, and Big West Conference.

A first-generation college graduate, Wilcox attended Michigan State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in audiology and speech sciences. He also holds master’s and doctoral degrees in speech and hearing science from Purdue University. His research focuses on speech acoustics, and he has directed teaching, research, and service projects funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education.

Prior to UCR, he served as provost at Michigan State, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Kansas, and president and chief executive officer of the Kansas Board of Regents. In 2023, Wilcox received the American Council on Education (ACE) Council of Fellows/Fidelity Investments Mentor Award.

Current Term

2023 – 2026