Chancellor, UCLA

When Block was named UCLA Chancellor in 2007, UCLA placed No. 4 in U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of the top public universities in the nation. Under his leadership, UCLA rose steadily in the ranking to the No. 1 position; in September, it claimed that top spot for the fifth consecutive time. The university also consistently draws the largest number of applications in the nation; this year applications hit a record 149,700. Besides his duties as chancellor, Block is a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences in the university’s David Geffen School of Medicine.

YEARS ON THE LA500: 7