A former UC Davis administrator has moved up again in the world of higher education.

Elizabeth Langland, mentioned in Dateline's July 20 article on administrators who had left Davis for positions of greater responsibility elsewhere, started Sept. 1 as vice president of Arizona State University's West Campus, in Phoenix, and dean of the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences on the same campus.

Langland served as dean of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies in the UC Davis College of Letters and Science from 1999 to 2004, and then moved to Purchase College-State University of New York, as provost and vice president of Academic Affairs.

Before coming to UC Davis, Langland taught English literature at Vanderbilt University, Converse College and the University of Florida, where she was associate dean for faculty affairs in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

About her time at UC Davis, Langland said this: "Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef put together a wonderful leadership team and created a context for collaboration and consultation, and it was through those collaborations and consultations that I truly broadened my understanding of university life and my perspectives on it.

"The chancellor also put a premium on thinking not just about the good of one's own area but about the good of the institution as a whole. That kind of thinking prepares one to take on ever-more-complex administrative roles."

At UC Davis, Langland said, "I truly experienced how critical good leadership is to an institution and how much of importance can be accomplished through creative leadership. It was a truly rewarding experience." ...

The UC regents rescinded a speaking invitation to a former president of Harvard University after protests by female faculty members at UC Davis. Larry Summers, who resigned as Harvard president last year after saying that women hold fewer positions in science, math and engineering in part because of differences between men and women in their intelligence, mathematical and scientific ability, had been invited to speak to the regents this past week in Davis. However, after a petition drive collected more than 150 signatures from several UC campuses in just two days, the regents withdrew their invitation. The petition read in part, "Inviting a keynote speaker who has come to symbolize gender and racial prejudice in academia conveys the wrong message to the university community and to the people of California." Replacing Summers as the dinnertime speaker was Susan Kennedy, chief of staff to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. ...

In another case of withdrawal, legal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky was reappointed Sept. 17 as dean of the new law school at UC Irvine, a week after UC Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake set off a national furor by withdrawing the appointment. Chemerinsky was re-offered the position after talking in depth with Drake over the Sept. 15-16 weekend. His appointment must be approved by the UC Board of Regents.