Elizabeth Simmons

Elizabeth H. Simmons is the Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at UC San Diego. She is the institution’s second-ranking executive and serves as chief academic officer, overseeing academic programs and policies as well as academic personnel services across general campus. Simmons is passionate about advancing the goals of UC San Diego’s strategic plan which emphasizes excellence in education, research and public service, and the commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion. Simmons is also a theoretical high-energy physicist and Distinguished Professor of Physics at UC San Diego. She is currently studying how physics beyond the Standard Model might manifest in experiments in progress at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Prior to joining UC San Diego, Simmons served as Associate Provost for Faculty and Academic Staff Development, Dean of Lyman Briggs College, and University Distinguished Professor of Physics at Michigan State University.