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Dr. Sung-Mo "Steve" Kang
Dr. Belle W. Y. Wei

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Archive of Reflections

Chang-Lin Tien: the Leader

"He had the intellectual experience to take on any job. He was just an extremely talented person who had a deep understanding of what the university world was. He was a leader in his own special way. Chang-Lin was a leader whether or not he was 6'4" tall. Everyone attended to what he had to say, and he said it well, and it was clearly from the heart, and clearly with real intellectual content behind it.

I believe that for great universities like UC Berkeley, there is a need to be sure that they’re led by people who really understand the value of the academic world, academic life, and have contributed in their own right to that. You really want people who understand what it means to make serious intellectual contributions, and that doesn’t mean you have to be a scientist. You can be a historian, or what have you. You have to be someone who's had the experience of really making a contribution to their particular intellectual field so that you can really appreciate the nature of the academic world. Chang-Lin certainly distinguished himself in that sense."

Richard Atkinson
President, 1995-2003
University of California

"It's very hard to be in the job of chancellor. It's a lonely job. You're the one that makes the decisions. You're the one that everybody ultimately blames, and that's why people can't stay in these jobs for years and years. Every decision you make, some people like, some people don't. He never worried about, 'Everybody has to like me.' People just really liked him. They trusted him. He was just this great ambassador."

John F. Cummins
Associate Chancellor - Chief of Staff
University of California, Berkeley

"There was a reference to the idea that there's going to be a lot of heat on this issue or that issue, personal heat in taking this position or that, and he reminded us that his specialty in engineering was heat transfer. There were a lot of issues that came up during that time where he showed very strong leadership, and there was the notion that he'd be getting a lot of heat for the position that he takes. He had an ability to in some way disarm people and reduce the heat, so to speak.

As a leader he was always very clear about his values and a real commitment to excellence. Excellence is achieved by decisions that are made on a daily basis. He said you had to be thinking excellence all the time. That was something that I learned from him that's been really important to me.

You knew that when you got into a meeting with him, he had done his homework and he was well prepared. You had better not come into a cabinet meeting not being prepared because that was just unacceptable. He didn't get angry very often, but every now and then he could, and not in a vicious kind of way, but just in a way that says, 'You really should have taken care of it, and you didn't.'

He was a tough taskmaster. He expected results, and he expected results right away on a whole range of things. I think we are all the better for it. He didn't like it when people seemed to just take their time doing these things, as opposed to, 'Let's get it done now.' The determination to achieve goals was a very important aspect of who he was. He valued the team that he had both in his administration and also staff around the campus.

Chang-Lin appointed four vice chancellors. Carol Christ is a white female. Dan Mote, university relations, a white male. Genaro Padilla, student affairs, is Latino/Chicano. I’m African American. Of the four people he appointed as vice chancellor, three of us are university presidents now. The excellence he insisted on, also achieving the diversity he had in mind, the evidence of that is not just what he did there and what he brought in. What those folks have done since then is the greatest testament to him as a leader and the values he held.

We had a lot of discussions that he initiated about whether or not he should retire. It wasn't a question for us, because we all said, 'No, no, no. We don't want you to retire.' It was a question for him, where he was in his career, where the institution was, his not wanting to leave the institution in a bad place, but thinking he was ready to do something else. It just had to do with a lot of consideration on his part about what was the right thing to do. He essentially made the decision in a situation where the university was in its best position ever. You're talking about going out on top."

Horace Mitchell
President
California State University, Bakersfield

"Chang-Lin always knew where he was going and the steps required to take him there -- he was the complete strategist. He understood completely the effect of everything he did, every step he took, and every comment he made. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, random about him. He was careful, highly efficient, and took measured risks. He had an uncanny capacity to attack problems at their very root cause, and he had extraordinary political instincts.

Part of Chang-Lin's strategic talent was knowing how to arrive and when to leave. In our frequent conversations on coming to and leaving a position, Chang-Lin would produce a long list of academic leaders who stayed too long and ultimately experienced growing opposition. He felt that leaving a little early preserved contributions and future opportunities. In short, he counseled that it's important to leave the party before everyone starts looking at their watches. I am confident that all of us, except his wife Di-Hwa and his family, believe he left the Berkeley chancellorship much too early. But, from his thinking, it was about right. He was at the top of his popularity and achievement, and at age 62 he was well positioned for the next challenge."

C.D. "Dan" Mote Jr.
President
University of Maryland, College Park

"He did everything well. What I think is that when he decided to become an administrator, he decided to go all out to do it. He was one who learned to grow his responsibilities. I think he learned from every experience.

One has to be concerned about solving problems. It's a real privilege to be a university administrator. You're constantly learning something new. You're always working with people who know more about something than you do. [There is] much more consensus [than in a corporation]. It's not hierarchical. You have to deal with everybody from young students to the state legislature, to distinguished faculty.

He was very sensitive to the needs of the faculty, having grown up on the faculty. He was a good intellectual cheerleader. I used to say chancellors need to be born optimists. They have to be concerned with people’s morale, set high expectations.

His leadership whenever there was a major crisis at Berkeley, he was on the scene. I remember the time when there was a fire on the campus, he was there. When there were shootings at the hotel, he was there to deal with the problem. He was a hands-on administrator, a walk-around administrator. On the first day of school, be out there with the students."

Jack Peltason
President, 1992-1995
University of California

"Indeed, in this day and age, especially on a university campus when it is all too easy for a leader to become worn down and dispirited by the myriad problems that beset such vast institutions, he was a model of decorous sovereignty. Even though the competitive challenges of keeping a large research university at the top of the education food chain are fiercer than ever, the political problems often herculean and the challenges of hiring and keeping a first-rate faculty and then raising enough money to keep the entire proposition afloat formidable, he managed to preside over the whole fragile undertaking while emanating a sense of elan, optimism and possibility."

Orville Schell
Dean, the Graduate School of Journalism
University of California, Berkeley

"As the chancellor of UC Berkeley, his personal style set the tone for the campus. His warmth and high visibility also helped make him a popular and effective administrator. Of the hundreds of Berkeley graduates with whom I have spoken, none has ever expressed anything but love and respect for Chancellor Tien. He made Berkeley a better institution, and he helped countless students fulfill their dreams. His achievements in promoting excellence and diversity continue to inspire us all. His legacy is a tremendous source of pride not only for members of our Asian American community, but for all those fortunate enough to have had their lives touched by him.

Dr. Tien led by example. He was humble and selfless, with kindness in his heart for everyone. He felt a particular responsibility to help the disadvantaged and underprivileged. Throughout his career, he worked tirelessly to advance education at all levels, reaching all areas of the world. He demonstrated a unique talent for bringing people and nations together. He especially helped to strengthen ties between Asia and the United States, and among Asian nations.

Dr. Tien's devotion never faltered, his energy never flagged, and he never stopped believing in the possibility of creating a better future. He was a most admired colleague and a role model for us all."

Henry T. Yang
Chancellor
University of California, Santa Barbara

"I saw growth even in the time I knew him. He seasoned some of the earlier brashness. You saw substantial development, in terms of rounding off the edges. A softening, a seasoning, a polishing. No one who has not been head of an institution knows what it's like, even the vice chancellor or dean. It's just a huge responsibility. It's a very difficult jump to make. Tien made it very well. The love of the job, loving to work with people, liking people. Enjoying what you're doing, trying to make the what is to be done in such a way that everyone who is involved is having an enjoyable experience, just having fun. You've got to work with so many different kinds of people, each of whom has to be dealt with in a somewhat different way. In higher education you've got dozens of stakeholders.

I believe it is a critical element in leadership and a university, to try to see difficulties as opportunities [as Dr. Tien did], crises as possibilities, and to turn what might be something bad into something good. Something begins to happen, and when you're in a kind of a crisis, it really is a point at which things can go one way or the other. You have a greater opportunity to accomplish things at that point than at any other time. You can move things to the positive side."

Charles Young
Chancellor, 1968-1997
University of California, Los Angeles

Photo of Chang-Lin Tien by John Blaustein, courtesy UC Berkeley

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