Arts and Humanities Advisory Council

Steven Adler

Professor Emeritus Steven Adler retired from UC San Diego in 2016 after 29 years on the faculty, the last 12 of which were spent as provost of Earl Warren College. He stage managed the Broadway productions of “Dance a Little Closer, Camelot” with Richard Harris and “Big River” (Tony Award-winning), several national tours, multiple productions at leading Off-Broadway theaters including Manhattan Theatre Club and CSC Rep, and television shows for HBO, Lifetime and A&E.

At La Jolla Playhouse, he stage managed the world premiere of “80 Days” and “Elmer Gantry,” as well as “Macbeth,” “Dogeaters” (world premiere), “Sweet Bird of Youth,” “Wintertime” (world premiere), “The Laramie Project,” (original cast) and David Edgar's two-play political cycle “Continental Divide.” He received a Japan Fellowship from the Asian Cultural Council and a UC Pacific Rim Fellowship to research producing in Japanese theater companies.

At UC San Diego, he directed several student productions including “Balm in Gilead,” “The Seagull” and “A Flea in Her Ear.” He is the author of two books: “Rough Magic: Making Theatre at the Royal Shakespeare Company” and “On Broadway: Art and Commerce on the Great White Way.” He wrote the chapters Box Office for the “Oxford Handbook of the American Musical” and Big River: A New Road to Broadway for the “Routledge Companion to the Contemporary American Musical.”

He is currently the vice president of the UC San Diego Emeriti Association, and still teaches classes in musical theater, production and film.

Eva Barnes MFA '83

Eva Barnes is Emeritus Professor in UC San Diego’s Department of Theatre and Dance, where she taught speech and dialects and acting for 25 years. She is an actor and vocal coach, having performed in and/or coached numerous productions, notably performing in “Liszt in the World” by and with Cecil Lytle and with Arthur Wagner, “Kaddish” with Stephen Schick and the La Jolla Symphony & Chorus, “Flight” by Roger Reynolds and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with the Mainly Mozart Festival, as well as performing with many theatres throughout the United States and in Europe.

Ms. Barnes has vocal coaching credits in film and on Broadway, as well as in countless regional theater productions, including the La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Repertory Theatre, North Coast Repertory Theatre, the Ahmanson Theatre, the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington D.C. and, of course, UC San Diego’s Department of Theatre and Dance.

Ms. Barnes earned her MFA in acting from UC San Diego.

Julia Brown H '14

Julia R. Brown is an executive from the life science industry. She has served as a member of the boards of directors of numerous drug development companies.

She is a member of the board and past chair of Corporate Directors Forum, a southern California organization dedicated to high standards of corporate governance. She is also a member of the board of Cleantech San Diego, an industry association. Ms. Brown is a member of the National Advisory Board of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

She is actively engaged in the San Diego community. She serves of the board of UC San Diego Foundation and is past chair. She serves on the Director’s Council at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She is also a member of the board of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra and past member of the board of Girl Scouts San Diego.

Julia Brown received the Hugh Friedman Award for Director of the Year in 2016. In 2012, she received UC San Diego Chancellor’s Medal. In 2014, the UC San Diego Alumni Association honored Julia as Honorary Alumna of the Year. In 2010, Julia received CONNECT’s award for “Distinguished Contribution to the Life Science Innovation.” She won San Diego Business Journal’s “Women Who Mean Business” award in 2006. In 2005, Girl Scouts San Diego named Julia one of San Diego’s ten Cool Women.

Julia Brown holds a B.S. from Louisiana Tech University and a M.L.A. from Harvard University.

Constance M. Carroll

Dr. Constance M. Carroll served for 17 years as chancellor of the San Diego Community College District and 26 years as president of three community colleges, including San Diego Mesa College. She also served as an administrator at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Southern Maine.

Dr. Carroll earned a bachelor’s degree in humanities from Duquesne University and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in Classics from the University of Pittsburgh, followed by a Certificate in Hellenic Studies from Knubly University in Athens, Greece. Dr. Carroll has a long history of involvement with the humanities, specializing in ancient Greek Tragedy and occasionally teaching classes.

In 2011, President Barack Obama nominated her and the U.S. Senate confirmed her appointment to the National Council on the Humanities, which works with the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Following her retirement, Dr. Carroll will serve as president and CEO of the California Community College Baccalaureate Association, which is committed to the expansion and support of bachelor’s degrees in specified fields in community colleges.

Marsha A. Chandler

For over 30 years, Dr. Marsha A. Chandler has served as a visionary leader and highly successful academic executive administrator. She now consults and advises deans, provosts, and presidents, specializing in strategic planning, innovation, problem solving and conflict resolution, fundraising, and diversity and inclusion.

Marsha served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies from 2007 – 2015. In this role, she was responsible for all fiscal matters and support functions including scientific services, core research facilities, tech transfer, human resources, development and communication, legal affairs, and public education.

Prior to the Salk, Marsha served as the Chief Academic Officer (EVC) at UC San Diego. She played a critical role in leading the planning implementation of the extensive growth of the campus. This growth included major expansion in undergraduate enrollment, special emphasis on increasing graduate enrollment, and the creation of two new professional schools- the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science and the School of Management. Before being recruited to UC San Diego, Marsha held the position of Dean of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto form 1990 – 1997.

A fellow of the Royal Society of Canada since 1994, Marsha has authored four books, including The Political Economy of Business Bailouts and Trade and Transitions: A Comparative Analysis of Adjustment Policies, among more peer-reviewed articles. She holds a PhD in public policy and political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Marsha was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Law from the University of Toronto and is an alumna of the advanced management program at Harvard Business School.

Carol Littlejohn Chang H '19

Carol Littlejohn Chang’s professional career spanned 30 years in health care planning and organizational behavior, where she served as an academic administrator and consultant nationally. She retired from UC San Francisco as Associate Dean for Administration and Clinics in the School of Dentistry, and moved to San Diego where she began an active role in the community as a volunteer leader.

Ms. Chang is well known in the community due to her work in the non-profit and philanthropic community. She has served on numerous boards including the National Conflict Resolution Center, San Diego Women’s Foundation (past president) and Fleet Science Center Board of Trustees (past chair), and is a founding member and past chair of the Balboa Park Conservancy Board of Trustees.

Her activity at UC San Diego includes currently serving as a UC San Diego Foundation Board of Trustees (chair and currently immediate past chair) and as a member of the Health Sciences Advisory Board. She has previously served as the chair of Celebrate 50, member and chair of the Moores Cancer Center Board, and president of the Friends of UCSD Healthcare.

Ms. Chang’s honors in the community include being recognized as “50 People to Watch in San Diego,” Women Who Mean Business and a Women of Dedication honoree. She received an honorary Alumni Award from UC San Diego in 2019.

Ms. Chang has an MPH from the University of California Berkeley with emphasis in strategic planning and organizational development.

Katherine Chapin

A native of Champaign, Illinois, Katherine Chapin has held a variety of executive positions for Fortune 500 companies, including Mattel, The Limited, and General Mills. In her various responsibilities, she has spearheaded all aspects of creating new products and businesses, overseen product development for 325 specialty retail stores, and helped re-position the beloved Barbie doll brand.

Currently Ms. Chapin is a co-founder and general partner at Chapin Ventures, a boutique private equity fund, investing in self-run and other start-ups.

Katherine Chapin holds an MBA and a bachelor's degree of science of from the University of Illinois and studied Japanese at Konan University in Kobe, Japan. Speaks Japanese and Greek. She is also a former professional dancer, and has performed around the world.

Additional Board of Trustee history includes:

• Sanford Burnham Prebys
• La Jolla Music Society, Chairman of the Board (formerly held)
• San Diego Youth Symphony
• Boys and Girls Club of Carlsbad (Honorary)

Phyllis Epstein

Phyllis Epstein is a native of Los Angeles and graduate of UCLA. She is on the UC San Diego Foundation Board and chairs the Donor Relations and Stewardship Committee. Previously, she served on the California Arts Council, and is a current member of the San Diego Symphony Board, and The Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) Foundation Board of the San Diego Unified School District.

She has two adult children and five grandchildren. Her husband, Dan, is in real estate development and property management.

Cecil Lytle

Cecil Lytle was First Prize winner in the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition and since then has earned a reputation as a recitalist performing 19th and 20th century piano music. Indeed, diversity has been a central aspect of his career.

The award-winning “Naked Gershwin”, presented on public television stations nationally, was produced and performed by Mr. Lytle with assistants. This was followed by the 1996 Emmy nomination for the public television series “The Nature of Genius.” He has recorded for Nonesuch, Lovely, CRI and Klavier Records.

Cecil Lytle served our campus with distinction for more than 34 years in his roles as a Professor of Music, the long-time provost of Thurgood Marshall College, and as a founding member of The Preuss School UC San Diego.

Paul I. Meyer

Paul I. Meyer is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard College (class of 1966) and an honors graduate of Harvard Law School (class of 1969). Upon graduation, he worked for a poverty law agency, the San Francisco Neighborhood Legal Assistance Foundation, until 1970, and then completed three years of active military service as a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1973.

In the years which followed, Mr. Meyer became a partner first at Gray Cary Ames & Frye, then San Diego’s largest law firm, and subsequently at Latham & Watkins LLP, an international law firm of more than 3,000 lawyers practicing in 29 cities around the world, from which he retired in 2005. At Latham, he served as a member of the five-person global Executive Committee which governed the firm, and as chair of the firm’s global Real Estate Department.

His principal areas of legal practice were real estate law and finance, with an emphasis on downtown redevelopment. His principal projects included the Staples Center sports arena in downtown Los Angeles; the Petco Park Major League Baseball stadium, One America Plaza Office Building and Santa Fe Train Depot projects in downtown San Diego; and the City Creek Center project in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah.

In the community, Mr.Meyer has served as board chair or president for a number of non-profit organizations, including the Old Globe Theatre, the La Jolla Chamber Music Society, the San Diego Charitable Real Estate Foundation, the San Diego Chapter of the American Jewish Committee, and the Board of Visitors to the Jewish Studies Program at UC San Diego. He has also served as a board member or trustee at the San Diego Foundation, on the Mayor’s Task Force on the governance of Balboa Park, for the Balboa Park Conservancy, and on the National Council of the American Jewish Committee.

Edie Munk '78

Edie Munk graduated from UC San Diego’s Muir College in 1978 with a degree form the Department of Theatre and Dance, where she was fortunate to have stellar professors Arthur Wagner, Dan and Deb Dryden, and Eric Christmas.

Her early work included organizing punch cards for her father, Walter Munk, at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, VideoFashion in New York City, KERA in Dallas, and Premiere in Los Angeles. She then moved to launching the Disney Channel across the Western United States, and Ocean Design in Florida.

All this prepared her to direct the Economics Roundtable and Helen Edison Lecture Series at UC San Diego Extension. She has also had the pleasure of working with the UC San Diego Natural Reserve System in successfully meeting their fund-raising goal to build the new Field Station and Learning Center at the Kendall-Frost marsh.

She has served on the Malashok Dance and the Museum of Man boards, and said she is most appreciative of her rescue Palomino and off-grid living in Baja California.

Ann Reed

Ann Reed and her husband Joel have resided in Rancho Santa Fe for the past 26 years. Their three adult children attended public high schools in San Diego, and all three have undergraduate and graduate degrees from UC San Diego.

Ms. Reed serves on the UC San Diego Foundation Board and on the Campaign Cabinet. The Reeds are longtime supporters of public education and, in particular, the UC San Diego School of Arts and Humanities, most recently gifting the school a 12-piece collection of mid-20th century Soviet art.

The Reeds love to travel and have visited 190 countries across the globe. They enjoy experiencing the everyday lives of their fellow human beings all over the spectacular planet that we call home.

Doreen Schonbrun

Doreen Schonbrun is a proud alumnus of UC San Diego where she earned her BA in Art History Theory and Criticism with a minor in Studio Art. The recipient of several awards, her art practice is grounded in bronze casting and oil and acrylic painting. She is a deeply passionate arts educator and lifelong advocate for the arts

After several years spent teaching at institutions throughout Southern California, Doreen became involved at the San Diego Center for Children. As a teacher, she witnessed the profound healing power of art for vulnerable young students and used this experience to advocate for arts learners on the board of the Center. After eight years on the board, Doreen was appointed by the mayor of San Diego to serve on the San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture. There, she championed the first Arts Education Initiative funded by the city.

Doreen is the co-founder and President Emeritus of the Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) Foundation. The VAPA Foundation raises funds to enrich the San Diego Unified District’s various art programs. Funding is focused on low-income schools where arts education is underfunded.

Doreen supports many of San Diego’s arts organizations, including San Diego Opera, Patrons of the Prado, Timken Museum, San Diego Museum of Art, La Jolla Music Society, City Ballet, San Diego Symphony, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, and the New Children’s Museum. She also serves on the Executive Board for the Sanford Burnham Prebys Fishman Fund Medical Research Institute and is co-program director for the “Group of 12” Lecture Series.

Carol Vassiliadis

Carol Vassiliadis was born in New York and raised on Long Island, in Roslyn. She entered Penn State after graduation from high school, and transferred to San Diego State College in her sophomore year when her parents moved to San Diego.

While at San Diego State, she was active in the theater department and appeared in Starlight Opera. After graduation, with a degree in English and Speech, she taught at Helix High School in San Diego. A year later she moved to Pasadena with her family, and spent the next nine years as a teacher and mentor at Pasadena High School.

Shortly after that she married her husband, Laki Vassiliadis, and had two children. During their marriage, Carol Vassiliadis became active with the Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary, church, The San Diego Zoo, KPBS, University of San Diego, UC San Diego helping to build the Jacobs Medical Center, building a lab for Peter Kuhn at USC, and served on the board at Francis Parker School the entire time her children attended.

Unfortunately, when her children were 16 and 19, her husband passed away due to cancer and she has kept herself as busy as possible with the amount of philanthropy she can handle at this point in her life. She is owner/partner in Eleven Eleven Wines in Napa, Calif.

Her children are both married, with one of them a new father. She said she feels blessed to have had such a wonderful life.

Chris Weil

Chris Weil is the chair of Christopher Weil & Company, Inc., a registered investment advisor, and sponsor of private equity and real estate ventures. He has been in the investment and investment management businesses since 1963.

Mr. Weil is an emeritus member of the UC San Diego Foundation Board of Trustees, and is chair of the Patricia and Christopher Weil Family Foundation. He has served on the boards of a number of for-profit and not-for-profit enterprises including the San Diego Mainly Mozart Festival and San Diego Grantmakers.

Patricia Weil

Patricia Weil was born and raised in Los Angeles and graduated from UCLA. She taught in the Los Angeles public school system for seven years, then worked as a reading consultant for McGraw-Hill. She also spent many years as a volunteer with a national educational foundation.

Pat and her husband Chris moved to Del Mar 24 years ago. Since then, she has served on the boards of the Old Globe and The Preuss School UCSD. She continues to serve on the Preuss Educational Committee. She has also served in a number of capacities with other organizations including the San Diego Mainly Mozart Festival and the San Diego Repertory Theater.

In 1999 she and Chris established the Patricia and Christopher Weil Family Foundation to provide scholarship support to high school graduates in under-resourced communities. Since 2004 and its first graduating class, The Preuss School has been the primary focus of the foundation’s scholarship program, and in recent years it has expanded the scope of its granting activities to other San Diego-area schools, as well as providing increased support for arts organizations and various UC San Diego-related activities.

Pat believes her greatest achievement has been the part she has played in the growth and development of her three children and five grandchildren.

Matthew Weil - Council Observer

Matthew Weil is co-owner and Chief Legal Officer of Christopher Weil & Company, Inc., a wealth management and financial advisory firm engineered to meet the sophisticated needs of families with more complicated financial lives. Before joining WEIL, Mr. Weil was a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP. He currently also serves on the Board of Directors of the Patricia & Christopher Weil Family Foundation and The Preuss School UCSD (as well as two for-profit companies).

Matthew Weil has a bachelor’s degree in History and Russian Language from the University of California, Davis, a Masters in Political Science from Columbia University, and a J.D. from University of California, Berkeley, School of Law and is fluent in Russian. He and his wife live in Carmel Valley and have a college-aged daughter.