G. Thurlow

George Thurlow of Santa Barbara will join the governing UC Board of Regents as a Regent-designate on July 1. Following a one-year term as Regent-designate, he will serve a one-year term as an ex-officio voting Regent.

Thurlow, who is publisher and chief executive officer of the weekly Santa Barbara Independent newspaper, recently was elected treasurer of the Alumni Associations of the University of California and, as such, will become one of the alumni representatives on the Board of Regents. The AAUC is the umbrella organization representing the interests of all alumni groups in the UC system.

Thurlow said his goal as a Regent would be to serve as “a voice for academic excellence, student diversity, and careful stewardship of our scarce UC resources.”

A 1973 graduate of UCSB, Thurlow has been involved in the leadership of the campus’s alumni association for many years. He is a past president of the UCSB Alumni Association. He is also a past member of the Board of Directors of The UCSB Foundation.

Thurlow has been publisher of the Santa Barbara Independent since 1994. Earlier in his career he served on the faculty of California State University, Chico, where he taught journalism and was adviser to the student newspaper. As a journalist, he worked as editor of the weekly Chico News & Review, a reporter at the Woodland Daily Democrat, and as a reporter and editor of the now defunct Santa Barbara News & Review.

The Board of Regents is made up of 26 voting members: 18 appointed by the governor for 12-year terms, a student appointed by the Regents to a one-year term, and seven ex-officio members.