everyone likes to ask edley what to do. even the uc.

[petra pasternak]

Boalt’s Dean Chris Edley has taken on a new job.

No, he’s not leaving Berkeley’s law school, but he does seem to have a busy year ahead, having been appointed “special adviser” to Mark Yudof, president of the UC system. An email announcement went to the Boalt community this week. 

His new role sounds both vague and important. Edley will advise and counsel Yudof and “execute special projects” on his behalf, Yudof said in an announcement to the chancellors, members of his cabinet and others dated Dec. 17. Edley will develop and oversee the university’s contributions to the improvement of P-16 education in California, to the energy and climate challenges facing the world, and strategize to help boost federal support for UC’s operating budgets. His appointment runs from mid-December 2008 to mid-December 2009. 

A UC president has not had a special adviser in recent memory, according to Paul Schwartz, who responded from the office of the president. “It’s not something we track, Petra, but I am virtually certain that there have been other UC presidents throughout the decades who have used advisors,” he wrote in an email.

Edley did not return a request for comment Thursday afternoon.