Fred E. Wood, currently a chancellor at the University of California, has been named the next leader of the Univeristy of Minnesota’s Crookston campus.

Wood will begin as chancellor July 2, pending final Board of Regents approval.

He’s been at the 25,000-student University of California Davis for 26 years. From 1991 to 2004, he was associate dean of the school’s College of Letters and Science, its liberal arts college. Wood has held leadership positions since, rising to the vice chancellor of student affairs position now.

In a press release, Robert Jones, the University’s senior vice president for academic administration, said Wood’s academic and administrative experience, and his “passion for ensuring innovative and supportive educational experiences” in a multi-campus land-grant school make him the right pick for the job. A systemwide search committee chose him.

He’ll succeed Charles H. Casey, who’s retiring as chancellor after seven years in the position.

Crookston is one of the University’s satellite campuses and is home to 1,600 students in northwestern Minnesota.