The campus announced Wednesday that Associate Vice Chancellor for Admissions and Enrollment Anne De Luca has accepted a position at Harvard University and will be leaving UC Berkeley at the end of July.
In her new position at Harvard, De Luca will be filling the role of associate dean of admissions and financial aid. Current Director of Undergraduate Admissions Amy Jarich has been named as the interim associate vice chancellor and will be performing the duties of both offices while the campus searches for a replacement.
“(De Luca) has been interested in a private school experience for some time,” said Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Harry Le Grande. “I think (she) sees Harvard as a great institution and opportunity and I agree, but (it is) a huge loss for us.”
Le Grande said he has not yet established a timeline for hiring De Luca’s replacement, as he was informed of her decision to leave Monday.
During her time at UC Berkeley, De Luca helped to develop and implement the Cal Student Central office and oversaw the admissions and enrollment component of the Student Information Systems, or SIS, project. The SIS project is intended to improve technology used by students and staff to perform administrative tasks such as admissions, payment and advising.
University registrar Walter Wong, who worked with De Luca, emphasized her dedication to making communication between staff and students more effective, as well as recruiting and providing opportunities for low-income students. According to Wong, she helped develop a program to teach students about financial literacy and initiated the Middle Class Access Plan.
“One of her attitudes is how important we are in fulfilling a student’s dreams,” Wong said. “We are a small piece in getting to something that’s big and important in the lives of students.”
According to Wong, De Luca also focused on consolidating administrative processes into a “one-stop shop” so students can access all services they need in one place, as well as creating a network of staff workers who can collaborate to better solve students’ problems.
Tom Goldstein, a professor of journalism and media studies and the chair of the Admissions, Enrollment, and Preparatory Education committee, said he worked closely with De Luca in his position as chair and it was the “most satisfying experience,” of all the things he has done on campus. According to Goldstein, they worked together to make significant changes in the admissions process, such as the suggestion to include recommendation letters in the application.
“We work to ensure that education is available to as many as possible, as education is the engine for upward mobility in this state.” Goldstein said. “People who apply to Cal have equal footing with everybody else and Anne is a great believer in that.”
De Luca could not be reached for comment.
