The chancellor of University of California, Santa Cruz was appointed Monday to the second-highest position in the UC system.

The appointment makes M.R.C. (pronounced "Marci") Greenwood the first woman to hold the title of UC provost and senior vice president of academic affairs. She will also be the highest ranking woman administrator in UC. The provost oversees academic planning, research and academic policies for the 10-campus system.

Greenwood, whose appointment was confirmed by a unanimous vote of UC's governing Board of Regents, has been chancellor at UC Santa Cruz since 1996.

She said it will be difficult to leave Santa Cruz, but said she accepted the provost job because she can help steer the system as it enters challenging fiscal times.

"We've gotten into some rough water, and to get out of rough water you need as much experience as you can get," Greenwood said.

Greenwood, 60, is a biologist who brings expe- rience in scientific and academic positions to her new post. She sits on numerous national scientific and educational boards, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Science Advisory Board and the task force on the Future of Science Programs at the U.S. Department of Energy. She is also a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, and is a fellow and past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, among other associations and boards.

She graduated summa cum laude from Vassar College and received her Ph.D. from Rockefeller University in New York.

UC President Robert Dynes described the provost as his "sidekick" and said Greenwood's management style will complement his.

"She's not afraid to stand up to me and tell me when I'm blowing smoke," Dynes said.

Greenwood will begin her new post on April 1, replacing C. Judson King, who is retiring after eight years as provost.

Greenwood will make $380,000 a year. She made $269,000 a year at UC Santa Cruz, plus benefits and an on-campus residence. Regents voted 8-4 to approve Greenwood's salary. One opposing regent, Odessa Johnson, said she wasn't opposed to the amount of the salary, but felt part of the amount should have been delineated as a housing allowance.

King made $281,600 a year as provost.