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On Thursday, May 29, the Assembly and the Senate honored UC President Michael V. Drake, M.D., who will be retiring at the end of the academic year. Drake was joined by his wife Brenda and their family for the event.

Assemblymember Mike Fong presented Drake with a resolution, “recognizing his years of dedicated service to California’s higher education system and to the nation's higher educational system and celebrate his well-earned retirement this year.”

“President Drake stepped into the role of UC president during the turbulent times of the COVID pandemic,” Fong said. “He took the helm in August of 2020, spent the last five years guiding the UC’s 10 campuses and six academic health centers, three national labs and over half a million students, faculty and staff through perhaps the largest logistical and mental challenges of a generation for higher ed.” 

During the state Senate floor session, Sen. Christopher Cabaldon said: “There are very few roles in American society or in California that are more important than university president. We know that now more than ever, and particularly at the University of California, the most distinguished public university on the planet – creating opportunity equity for Californians of every color and creed and background…creating opportunities for health, for breakthroughs, as we discussed on this floor in recent weeks, advancing agriculture as one of the first land grant universities in the country. 

“Leading and steering a university of that complexity to the success that the university has offered, not just for our economy but for our people, is an incredible and extraordinary accomplishment. And if you've spent any time with President Drake, you know, he believes very much in the institution, in the respect for tradition…and for the people who are doing the work.”

Sen. Anna Caballero provided some insights on Drake’s background and life story.

“President Michael V. Drake has led the University of California with vision, compassion and integrity. And behind every great leader is an origin story,” Caballero said.

“President Drake's story begins at the family dining table, where a young Michael watched his father, Dr. Carl Drake, Sr., care for patients in their living room,” she said. “Dr. Carl Drake, who was the football team captain at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, in the 1930s, chose to study medicine over a segregated football team. He became a medical doctor and healed patients until he passed away at the young age of 99. Dr. Carl's work ethic and commitment to helping people heal and be healthy left an indelible mark on his son that encouraged his commitment to education and community service above self.”

“That legacy of service and purpose lives on in President Drake's decades of leadership in medicine and higher education,” Caballero added.

An archive of the Assembly Floor session is available at https://www.assembly.ca.gov/media/assembly-floor-session-20250529 and acknowledgement of Drake starts at 1:00:35. An archive of the Senator Floor session is available at https://www.senate.ca.gov/media/senate-floor-session-20250529 and acknowledgement of the president starts at 44:47.