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Elmer W. Learn
In Memoriam

Elmer W. Learn

Professor of Agricultural Economics and
Executive Vice Chancellor, Emeritus

UC Davis
1929-2015

Elmer Warner Learn, Professor of Agricultural Economics and Executive Vice Chancellor Emeritus, died on December 5, 2015. He was 86 years old. Elmer was born in Sayre, Pennsylvania, on January 19, 1929. The son of a Penn State County Extension Agent, Elmer was born with Land Grant College blood in his veins. He received all three of his academic degrees from Penn State University, including his B.S. (1950), M.S. (1951) and Ph.D. in agricultural economics (1957), and, except for two years (1951–53) in the U.S. Army, he spent his professional life in Land Grant Universities: the University of Minnesota and UC Davis.
 
In 1957, Elmer Learn began his academic career as Assistant Professor of Agricultural Economics at Minnesota. He rose rapidly through the professorial ranks, becoming Professor and Head of the Department in 1963. His administrative talents were quickly recognized by the University administration, and in 1964 he became Assistant to the President of the University of Minnesota, which included development and administration of an organized comprehensive planning effort.
 
In 1969 UC Davis Chancellor James Meyer launched a search for the Dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and Elmer was invited to Davis for an interview. At a dinner, the Chancellor disclosed to Elmer that he was also recruiting for an Executive Vice Chancellor of the UC Davis campus and that he regarded Elmer to be a perfect fit for that position. Thus in 1969 Elmer became UC Davis’s first Executive Vice Chancellor.

Together Elmer and Jim Meyer formed a very strong and compatible administrative team. They shared strong advocacy for the Land Grant philosophy in which teaching, research and outreach through the Extension Service are intertwined. Elmer and Jim also shared a deep belief in the importance of communication and openness between and among campus administrators, faculty, staff, and students. This was masterfully achieved through a weekly luncheon held at the UC Davis Faculty Club for all Vice-Chancellors and Deans to meet with the Chancellor and Executive Vice Chancellor. By deliberate design, there was no agenda as these meetings were intended for discussion only, and no substitutes were allowed. By meeting weekly, the participants came to know one another well, enhancing free and open communication during and after the luncheons.  

Elmer Learn’s many specific contributions to UC Davis and to the University of California system were formally acknowledged by the Regents in conferring the title of Emeritus Executive Vice Chancellor on Elmer upon his retirement. Quoting the Regents’ Resolution:

As Executive Vice Chancellor, he has had primary responsibility for coordinating all campus operations, budgetary planning and resource allocation, internal audit programs, and health sciences administration. Of particular significance is his leadership in the transition of the University of California, Davis, Teaching Hospital by providing an organizational structure which improved patient care. He was also instrumental in the development of budgetary and management concepts relating academic programs to resource allocation.   

But Elmer’s interests weren’t just in administration. He was also interested in Aggie Athletics, particularly Aggie Football.  Soon after coming to Davis, he volunteered to be on the “chain gang” where he first operated the yards chain at Aggie home games. He later was promoted to holding the down marker, thereby becoming “the down box man.” His interest in Aggies games could also have been because Elmer had played baritone horn in the Penn State Blue Band and by standing on the sidelines, he could be close to the Cal Aggie Marching Band-UH, a group he loved so much.

Colleagues in the Department of Agricultural Economics remember Elmer’s sense of excitement on returning to the Department and classroom in 1984. His friendly greeting and ready smile signaled the pleasure he derived from assuming his faculty position. He had clearly missed teaching and the give-and-take of individual and small group interactions with students. After a year’s leave Elmer became immersed in teaching undergraduate and General Education courses, always with positive student response and high ratings.  

Elmer was a talented economist and an excellent teacher. While his pre-administrative career at Minnesota lasted only seven years, in those years he produced 12 publications and supervised 7 PhDs, including one who is now an Emeritus Professor at UC Davis. When he left academic scholarship in 1964, Elmer was well trained in statistics and econometrics but those fields had moved on rapidly. Rather than reboot his research program after two decades in other roles, Elmer chose to apply for a phased retirement in which he would maintain his teaching commitments and phase out the time budgeted for research. Eventually, he retired completely in 1993. 

With the second Thursday of each month freed from meetings and other commitments, Elmer joined the monthly Departmental “probability seminar” group (AKA poker). The game is dealer’s choice and each player has his own preference for what to play. Elmer’s favorite game, played almost every round, was “roll your own” – seven card stud poker with the low hole-card wild. He clearly enjoyed the choice of information to reveal and the probabilities involved as well as an occasional well-timed bluff. Elmer continued to play poker for some years after he retired.  Eventually he retired from poker, too, but we are reminded of him each time someone calls "Elmer’s Game."

Elmer was an intelligent, gentle and caring person. He demanded excellence and always delivered the same through hard work and impeccable integrity. The University of California was truly well served by Elmer W. Learn.

He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Arlene Learn; daughters Diane Crossman (Darrel) and Linda Learn; grandchildren Matthew Crossman (Lisa) and Janelle Crossman (Ethan Bloom); sister Harriet Slamp; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Julian Alston
Hoy Carman
Charles Hess
Alex McCalla