A Bruin in full: Interim Chancellor Darnell Hunt knows UCLA from the ground up

For years, UCLA students returning to campus for the start of the academic year had been greeted by the familiar face of Gene Block. This year, they were welcomed by someone new: Darnell Hunt.

The longtime campus leader became the university's interim chancellor on Aug. 1, his tenure intended to bridge the time between Block's departure and the arrival of Chancellor-designate Julio Frenk on Jan. 1, 2025.

In his introductory message to the Bruin community, Hunt extolled the "power and promise" of UCLA, "a place where people make and remake themselves, where we give birth to ideas and nurture dreams, where we create opportunities and expand horizons."

And perhaps no one would know better. Hunt has seen and served the campus from nearly every vantage point over the past three decades - as a student, a faculty member, a center director, a department chair, a dean and most recently as executive vice chancellor and provost. He is also a proud UCLA parent, with his daughter now entering her second year as an undergraduate.

As a champion of inclusive excellence, social justice and community-engaged scholarship, and as the principal architect of UCLA's ambitious five-year strategic plan, Hunt has given shape and direction to the university's mission of research, education and service - both locally and around the globe. And even in his interim role, he has done more than keep the seat warm, introducing a framework for creating a safer and stronger campus following the challenging events of last spring and working to build bridges of empathy and understanding among the diverse members of the Bruin community.

Hunt's colleagues have widely praised his work, both as a scholar of media, race and culture and as an administrator who has elevated UCLA's values and ideals through forward-thinking programs, policies and initiatives. The superlatives that pop up most frequently? Visionary, fair, magnanimous, collaborative, thoughtful, pragmatic, consensus-building, patient, inclusive and insightful.

Below, UCLA Newsroom takes a look at Hunt's history at UCLA and some of his major accomplishments.

1991-94
Doctoral student at UCLA

After earning a degree in journalism and public relations from USC and an M.B.A. from Georgetown University in the 1980s, Hunt worked for an NBC affiliate in Washington, D.C., but soon became disillusioned with the way issues of race were covered in the news. This spurred his interest in examining media and race from a sociological perspective.

"I came to Los Angeles to do my doctoral work at UCLA because of its proximity to the media and entertainment industries," Hunt said. "And that was fortuitous because almost all of my work since then has touched the city in some fashion."

While conducting research for his dissertation in 1992, four LAPD officers were acquitted in the Rodney King beating case - and the civil unrest that broke out in Los Angeles became the focus of his scholarship. He spent significant time in South Los Angeles and other parts of the city, both during and after the riots, studying people's reactions to how the media portrayed the events.

His dissertation, later published as a book, was described by UCLA sociology professor William Roy as "not only the best interpretation of media coverage of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, but … an enduring analysis of how racial dynamics affect news coverage in general."

Hunt discusses his doctoral research with UCLA Newsroom on the 20th anniversary of the Los Angeles riots.

2001-17
Director of Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies
Professor and chair of sociology

In 1994, Hunt was hired as an assistant professor at USC, where he would go on to earn tenure, chair the sociology department and publish his second book, 1999's"O.J. Simpson Facts and Fictions: News Rituals in the Construction of Reality," which further explored how race shapes the presentation of news and affects audiences' perception of events.

In 2001, he returned to UCLA. "I was recruited to direct UCLA's Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies," he recalled, "which allowed me to continue conducting my media and race research as well as to apply my business degree and administrative skills."

Over the next 16 years, Hunt would transform the Bunche Center into a leading hub of scholarship for African American studies while expanding his own work, notably launching the influential Hollywood Diversity Report. The now-twice-yearly analysis offers a detailed look at how racial, gender and ethnic politics shape access to the entertainment industry and determine what films and programs are produced.

He also published two more books, "Channeling Blackness: Studies on Television and Race in America," in 2004, and "Black Los Angeles: American Dreams and Racial Realities," in 2010, the latter with Bunche Center assistant director Ana-Chistina Ramón.

And in 2011, Hunt received the UCLA Academic Senate's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award, in large part for leading research with Bunche Center scholars on UCLA's admissions processes after Black enrollment declined significantly in the wake of Proposition 209, which prohibited affirmative action. His recommendations helped usher in the "holistic" method of assessing applications, still in use today, and led to an increase in the number of Black students at UCLA.

While still directing the Bunche Center, Hunt was named chair of the UCLA Department of Sociology, where he made it a priority to foster a collaborative academic environment that emphasized interdisciplinary research. His time in the role, he said, helped him "to see the intrinsic rewards associated with facilitating my colleagues' good work and to better recognize the importance of recruiting, supporting and retaining excellent faculty members."

Hunt and his Hollywood Diversity Report co-author, social psychologist Ana-Christina Ramón, speak with Oscar-winning filmmaker and UCLA alumnus Dustin Lance Black in 2017 about diversity in the entertainment industry.

2017-22
Dean of UCLA College Division of Social Sciences

As dean of the UCLA Social Sciences Division, the largest division in the UCLA College, Hunt focused on expanding the reach and impact of the social sciences, both at UCLA and in the broader community. Under his leadership, the division grew academically and financially, becoming a national leader in social science education.

"I took what I experienced as a center director and a department chair to another level," Hunt said, "because now I was dealing with 18 different academic units, almost 10,000 students and 300 faculty members across a range of disciplines."

Hunt elevated UCLA's long-standing ideals in concrete ways, overseeing the expansion of the division's faculty and the recruitment of an increasingly diverse group of world-class scholars, encouraging the growth of community-engaged research projects, and promoting publicly engaged, data-driven approaches to teaching and research, particularly on social justice issues.

He also oversaw the founding of the Bedari Kindness Institute, the Barbra Streisand Center for the Study of Women and the Latino Policy and Politics Initiative, as well as the Big Data and Society Initiative and LA Social Science project - both of which aimed harness UCLA's resources to help address major challenges in the region.

At the same time, Hunt served as a key advisor to Destination Crenshaw, a $100 million project funded by the city, county and state to develop an open-air museum along Crenshaw Boulevard devoted to Los Angeles' Black history and culture.

Hunt, as dean of the social sciences division, discusses Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy and what the civil rights leader's values mean for UCLA.

2022-24
Executive vice chancellor and provost

After five years as the social sciences dean, Hunt was appointed executive vice chancellor and provost, becoming the first person of color to hold UCLA's second-highest leadership post.

"The EVCP position is really the culmination of all the experiences I've had at UCLA" and one that will "allow me to take what I've learned in these positions and apply it at a campus level," he said at the time. "That is an incredibly exciting opportunity."

As deputy to then-Chancellor Block, Hunt was responsible for aligning the operational and academic sides of the university, working closely with vice chancellors, vice provosts, deans and the Academic Senate to help shape the direction of the institution as a whole.

In 2023, he announced a blueprint for the future with UCLA's 2023-28 Strategic Plan. Developed in consultation with faculty, students, staff, alumni, community representatives and other stakeholders, the plan outlines five goals aimed at strengthening UCLA's engagement and impact on campus, in the local community and across the globe and provides a roadmap for reaching them.

The first year-and-a-half of Hunt's tenure was a time of tremendous growth for UCLA, with the university acquiring major new properties - UCLA South Bay, UCLA Downtown and the UCLA Research Park. Each is poised to play a unique role in advancing UCLA's mission of research, teaching and service.

His vision and leadership also helped inform and guide new developments across campus, including the establishment of theUCLA Teaching and Learning Center; the implementation of the Bruin Budget Model, a new framework for allocating funds from the central campus to academic and administrative units; and the launch of theDialogue Across Differenceinitiative, which promotes the values of intellectual engagement, empathy and critical thinking on difficult and divisive issues.

Hunt and Block also continued to pursue the north star of inclusive excellence with the introduction of the Faculty Forward Initiative, which focuses on the recruitment and retention of faculty committed to scholarship, teaching and mentorship related to those who have traditionally been underrepresented in academia.

Hunt will return to the EVCP position when Julio Frenk takes over as chancellor in January 2025.

Hunt was honored with the Excellence in Education Award at the 9th Annual Truth Awards in 2023, presented by the nonprofit Better Brothers LA. (Courtesy of Better Brothers LA).

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.