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UCSD chancellor search nears end

UCSD is expected to discover who will be its new chancellor this month. The search committee for the next UCSD chancellor has completed its review of candidates’ applications, and submitted its final recommendations to UC President Robert C. Dynes on Feb. 25.

Dynes must now select a candidate from the final group of applicants and recommend the final candidate to the UC Board of Regents. Due to the confidential nature of the selection process, the committee was unable to divulge the identity of those on its short list or how many recommendations were made to Dynes.

According to Vice Chancellor of External Affairs James Langley, a decision by Dynes and the Regents should be announced within two weeks.

“In my experience, [the search for the new UCSD chancellor has been] one of the most efficient that I’ve seen, if not one of the most confidential,” Langley said.

According to the job description, the committee searched for a candidate who has “demonstrated leadership skills in an academic environment, senior experience in the administration of large-scale, diverse, and complex organizations, preferably research universities, and a strong record of teaching, research and scholarship.”

The committee, which was assisted by consulting firm A.T. Kearney, consisted of Dynes, Chairman of the Board of Regents John J. Moores, five UC Regents, five faculty members from several UC campuses, one undergraduate student representative, one graduate student representative and representatives of the alumni, staff and community. The committee met three times to review applications after soliciting input from the UCSD community on the specific qualities it would like to see in a chancellor.

“Basically, before the process even began and during the whole process, we’ve all been lobbied and we’ve all been talked to concerning what people would like to see,” said A.S. Vice President Internal Jenn Pae, who served as the committee’s undergraduate student representative. “My job was to make sure the next chancellor of UCSD is going to considers the needs of the students a priority.”

The search comes at a time when UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz are also searching for new chancellors. UC Berkeley’s chancellor search began on Jan. 5, while UCSC’s has yet to begin after current UCSC chancellor M.R.C. Greenwood was appointed UC provost on Feb. 23. Langley believes being the first campus to select a new chancellor gives UCSD an advantage in picking the best chancellor.

“We do have an advantage [in] that we were out front,” he said. “When you’re talking about extraordinarily talented people, you’re talking about relatively few.”

Pae believes that the search for a new chancellor comes at a critical time in UCSD’s development.

“We want to make sure the new chancellor is going to represent UCSD to the best of his/her abilities, because right now UCSD is on an upward trajectory and we want to make sure it continues going up,” Pae said. “And that includes not only representing students, faculty and staff, but also representing UCSD on a state and on a national level.”

Langley agreed that many involved in the search process have high expectations.

“We are at a very critical moment in our history, in that we have realized a great deal of our potential but there’s an understanding that we have not achieved all that we can achieve,” Langley said. “A lot of that will be up to the new leadership.”

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