Dear Campus Community, 

I am pleased to announce that University of California President Drake has approved the appointment of Lorena Peñaloza as UC Riverside’s next Chief Campus Counsel. Her first day at UCR will be January 3, 2023. 

Peñaloza is currently the Chief Campus Counsel at UC Santa Cruz, where she provides advice to the university on a broad range of legal issues and leads the Office of Campus Counsel. She reports jointly to Chancellor Cindy Larive and UC system Senior Vice President and General Counsel Charles Robinson and serves on their respective leadership teams. Peñaloza joined UCSC in 2017. 

Previously, Peñaloza worked in the Office of General Counsel for the California State University system, where she first served as a litigator and then as University Counsel for two of the system’s 23 campuses.  

She also served as Assistant City Attorney for the City of Santa Ana, and began her legal career with the Social Security Administration’s Office of the General Counsel in Maryland through the Presidential Management Fellowship program.  

Peñaloza earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology and political economies of industrial societies from UC Berkeley, and her Juris Doctor from the UC Hastings College of the Law.

At UCR she will oversee the Office of Legal Affairs, provide legal assistance and services to the campus, and serve as a senior advisor to me as a member of the Chancellor’s executive team. 

Thank you to the members of the search advisory committee for their support of this important national search (members are listed below).  I also wish to extend my gratitude to Senior Counsel Steve Drown who has agreed to continue his oversight of Legal Affairs through the end of the calendar year.

Sincerely,

Kim A. Wilcox 

Chancellor 

Search Advisory Committee Members

Rodolfo Torres, Vice Chancellor, Research & Economic Development (Chair)

Helia Aval, Undergraduate Student & Student Conduct Committee Chair

John Cioffi, Associate Professor, Political Science 

Elizabeth Davis, Associate Professor, Psychology 

Deborah Deas, Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences and Mark and Pam Rubin Dean of the School of Medicine

Andrea Eaton, Chief Campus Counsel, UC Irvine

Kristen Irving, Paralegal

Dan Jeske, Vice Provost for Academic Personnel

Agam Patel, Associate Director, Palm Desert Center 

Anh Pham, Graduate Student

Hoyt Sze, Managing Counsel of Health, Privacy and Data Protection, UCOP

Yinsheng Wang, Professor of Chemistry 

George Williams, Director of Employee & Labor Relations

Darnele Wright, Deputy General Counsel for Business, Transactions & Innovation, UCOP

Staff Support: Associate Chancellor Christine Victorino, Tanya Adams (ASSET), and Deanna Wheeler (Office of the Chancellor)