Robert Turnage, Vice Chancellor

Robert Turnage, the system's Vice Chancellor for Fiscal Policy, has extensive experience in state fiscal and education issues. As a young man, Robert worked for photographer Ansel Adams at Adams' gallery in Yosemite. Eventually, Robert saw the wisdom of obtaining a college education. He graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1979, with a double major in environmental studies and economics. He received master's degrees in both environmental studies and business administration from Yale University in 1982. At Yale he served as a teaching assistant to Professor James Tobin, the 1981 Nobel Laureate in Economic Science.

Over an 18-year period, prior to coming to the Chancellor's Office, Robert worked in a series of assignments for California's Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO). These assignments included, at one time or another, the state's retirement systems, capital outlay programs, the California State University and the California Community Colleges. From 1998 to 2002 Robert was the LAO's Director of K-12 Education Issues, a position that included direct responsibility for advising the Legislature on the Proposition 98 funding formula that guides state funding of both K-12 education and the community colleges.

In his free time Robert hosts a monthly radio show on KVMR-FM, Nevada City, called "Strawberry Beatles Forever." He enjoys playing the guitar, hiking, birding and working with big numbers.