It’s not every day that Americans witness a coronation.
For the first time in 30 years, a new chancellor of UC Santa Barbara was inaugurated in front of a packed house at the Lobero Theatre on Thursday, May 27. Dennis Assanis may not have received a crown, but he did get a medal amid all the traditional pomp and circumstance.
Assanis, the university’s sixth chancellor, took the helm from former chancellor Henry Yang in September 2025, following a year-long, nationwide search. Yang, for unknown reasons, did not attend the ceremony. However, Assanis did start his speech with a thank-you to Yang, who led the school for 31 years and was the last chancellor to be inaugurated back in 1995.