CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SANTA CRUZ : Interim Chancellor of University Named

Karl S. Pister, former dean of UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering, was appointed Friday as interim chancellor of UC Santa Cruz. Starting Aug. 1, Pister, 65, will serve for two years, replacing UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Robert Stevens, who announced his resignation five months ago. Pister has been a leader in issues of budget, private fund raising, affirmative action and engineering education, UC officials said. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at UC Berkeley and his doctorate in theoretical and applied mechanics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Stevens had been chancellor for four years and is joining a London office of an American law firm.