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UC Berkeley Chancellor To Step Down At Year's End

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — The chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley plans to step down from his post at the end of the year.

Chancellor Robert Birgeneau said Tuesday that he will leave office on Dec. 31, after more than eight years as leader of one of the world's leading research universities.

A renowned physicist, the 69-year-old Toronto native says he plans to remain at UC Berkeley to teach and conduct research.

He became the ninth chancellor of the Berkeley campus in September 2004 after four years as president of the University of Toronto.

Birgeneau says he originally hoped to serve for seven years at Berkeley chancellor, but decided to stay longer because of the extraordinary challenges posed to the campus by "the most extreme disinvestment by the state in UC's history."

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

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