Martin Chemers, provost and executive vice chancellor of UC Santa Cruz, was appointed Monday as acting chancellor of the campus.

He will replace Chancellor M.R.C. Greenwood, who has been named provost and senior vice president of the UC system.

The UC Board of Regents must give final approval to Chemers' appointment March 18. If approved as expected, he will assume the job leading the 15,000- student campus April 1, the day Greenwood takes her new post.

UC officials plan a national search and expect to name a permanent chancellor later this year.

Chemers, 60, has been at UC Santa Cruz since 1995 after working at Claremont McKenna College, the University of Utah and the University of Delaware.

As acting chancellor, Chemers will be paid $269,200 a year, the same salary Greenwood is earning as chancellor.