Robert Birgeneau was Chancellor at the University of California, Berkeley from 2004 - 2013. During his term as Chancellor, the University experienced the worst financial crisis in its history following the Great Recession of 2008. This enormous challenge brought with it large student protests over tuition increases, the need to streamline the campus bureaucracy and to create a new long-term financial model for the campus. His leadership during this period enabled Berkeley to maintain its standing as one of the greatest universities in the world. Despite the economic downturn, Birgeneau successfully completed the largest capital campaign in the history of the campus, totaling more than $3 billion. He relentlessly championed the needs of the underprivileged and the importance of access and diversity. Birgeneau's recollections of this critical period in the University's history will be documented in his oral history, soon to be underway. The management of intercollegiate athletics also became a controversial, hot button issue during his term. Long standing budget challenges led him to cut five sports and then reinstate them when private donations were forthcoming. He was also responsible for the construction of the Simpson Student Athlete High Performance Center and the renovation of Memorial Stadium. His reflections on those and related events are documented in this oral history conducted by John Cummins, Associate Chancellor Emeritus, as part of a larger oral history project on the management of intercollegiate athletics at Cal from the 1960s to 2014.