Q&A
P E R S P E C T I V E
Marcelle Hayashida Associate vice chancellor for wellness, health & counseling services
Steve Zylius / UCI
Seizing Opportunities to Improve Campus Health When opportunity knocks, Marcelle Hayashida answers. UCI’s associate vice chancellor for wellness, health & counseling services celebrates her 20th anniversary in academia this year. It was a career path that didn’t cross her mind as she completed her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of Michigan. However, appealing clinical positions were scarce upon graduation. When a tenuretrack offer to teach psychology arrived from Pomona College, “I couldn’t resist the warmer weather or the opportunity to work with a prestigious institution filled with incredibly bright students,” she says. It was the first of many doors that opened in unexpected and enticing directions for Hayashida. She balanced work as a therapist with teaching and research,
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UCI Magazine
joined the counseling center at the Claremont Colleges, and leveraged an interim associate dean position at Pomona College into the role of associate dean of students/dean of women. Since joining UCI in 2012, she has overseen eight centers, ranging from the Student Health Center and the Counseling Center to the Campus Assault Resources & Education office and the Disability Services Center. “It’s been the story of my career: being told, ‘We don’t have that, but do you want to try this?’ and me saying yes to something that wasn’t what I was looking for but something even better,” Hayashida says. She spoke with UCI Magazine contributing writer Kristin Baird Rattini about her personal journey and caring for the UCI community during a pandemic.
