Willard C. Fleming, D.D.S.

Chancellor 1966-1969

Williard C. Fleming, D.D.S., served as UCSF's second chancellor. Already past retirement age, Dr. Fleming agreed to take the post until a younger successor could be found. At the time, he was the only university chancellor in the nation who was a dentist. He was responsible for establishing the first formal affirmative action program for the campus, making UCSF a national leader in equal access to education in the health professions. He worked to improve dental education and was active in trying to solve manpower problems in dentistry, particularly in the recruitment of minority students and in the development of programs with new social mechanisms to extend medical and dental care to "all the people."

Dr. Fleming's remarkable contributions to UCSF spanned more than 50 years. A national figure in dental education and always in the vanguard of new thinking, he was President of the American Association of Dental Schools and the American College of Dentists, and held honorary degrees from the University of Toronto, the University of Southern California, and the University of California. Much of Dr. Fleming's research and teaching was in the field of periodontology, the study of gum tissue disease. He served 26 years as the dean of the School of Dentistry and held virtually every senior administrative post on the campus during his tenure at UCSF. Before becoming chancellor, he served as the university's first vice provost.

Dr. Fleming was devoted to students and was one of the prime movers in the 1920s to develop long-range planning for a student activity center on campus, which opened in 1958 as the Guy S. Millberry Union. His commitment to rigorous professional standards is evidenced by the wording in the terms of the UCSF Scholarship Fund established in his honor, which gives the highest priority to the student who exhibits "concerns for the welfare of others." He considered this quality as the most important attribute of every professional person.