Monroe Gorden, Jr. has been named vice chancellor of student affairs at UCLA. He has served as interim vice chancellor since July 2016.
Prior to his interim appointment, Gorden served as associate vice chancellor for administration in UCLA Student Affairs, with direct responsibility for more than a dozen student affairs departments. He maintained the organization’s budget stability during turbulent times, increased administrative efficiencies, managed initiatives on topics such as health insurance and graduate student career services, and chaired a campus-wide committee to develop our Bruins for Life program.
Gorden has also served as UCLA’s compliance officer for the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 for nearly 11 years, providing guidance to the campus on disability related issues, including reasonable accommodation. A licensed attorney in California with experience in business and health care law, he served as manager of legal contracting at United Healthcare and assistant general counsel at Tenet Healthcare prior to joining UCLA in 2006. Gorden is a UCLA alumnus who earned his B.A. in political science and completed the executive program in management at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He also graduated from Pepperdine University School of Law.
As interim vice chancellor, Gorden has been deeply involved in both long-term planning and day-to-day oversight of student support services. This includes working with campus partners on several new student affairs initiatives that promote student resiliency, internship opportunities and respectful dialogue across areas of difference. He has also been engaged in issues surrounding immigrant, international and undocumented students; developed and implemented two new Student Affairs priorities, to foster growth and development for students and to provide professional development opportunities for staff; increased donor-related funds by more than 60 percent in his first year; and coordinated a successful student engagement trip to Washington, D.C.
Gorden’s appointment comes following consultations with faculty, staff, students, campus leadership and others.
