May 7, 2012 (San Diego) -- Richard C. Atkinson, who served as chancellor of the University of California, San Diego for15 years, was barely four weeks into his tenure as president of the University of California system when the UC Regents voted to end affirmative action in August 1995.

How he dealt with the admissions wars—the political, legal and academic consequences of that historic and controversial decision, as well as the issue of governance—is discussed in a new book by Patricia Pelfrey recently released by the University of California Press entitled The Entrepreneurial President: Richard Atkinson and the University of California, 1995-2003.