Photo by Frank Zwart
212 pages, 2014
(UC Escholarship Version)
Julia Armstrong-Zwart was hired by Chancellor Robert Sinsheimer in 1981 as Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Matters of Informal Grievance and Affirmative Action and served as the University of California, Santa Cruz’s first ombudsman. In 1983, she stepped down as ombudsman, to assume the position of assistant academic vice chancellor for faculty relations, and continued to serve as special assistant to the chancellor for affirmative action. In addition to her work as assistant vice chancellor for faculty relations, she held the position of assistant chancellor for human resources, with responsibility for the offices of Academic Human Resources, EEO/Affirmative Action, Labor Relations, Staff Human Resources, and Title IX. She retired from UCSC in 2001.
In this oral history, conducted by the Regional History Project in the summer of 2013, Armstrong-Zwart describes how she worked with other key UCSC administrators, faculty, and staff members to transform the cultural and politics of UC Santa Cruz and the University of California system. They accomplished this through vision and much hard work, strengthening existing affirmative action policies and creating innovative programs such as the Target of Opportunity faculty recruitments, establishing retention and faculty development programs, and founding a Title IX office devoted to sexual harassment prevention.
Santa Cruz, CA
