The committee responsible for finding a replacement for outgoing Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Joseph W. Watson has kicked into high gear this month as it prepares to interview potential candidates for the leading student-related administrative position.
Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Joseph W. Watson attends last week’s retirement reception sponsored by the A.S. Council. Watson will end his 40-year tenure on July 1.
Watson, who became vice chancellor in 1981, is ending a 40-year UCSD career that also included serving as an organic chemistry professor and the first provost of Third College, the original moniker for Thurgood Marshall College.
The 23-member search committee, co-chaired by Chancellor Marye Anne Fox and Sixth College Provost Gabriele Weinhausen, includes administrators, staff members, faculty, undergraduates and graduate students.
Interviews will be held over the course of the next two to three weekends, although the names of the candidates will be kept confidential until finalists are announced, according to committee member and Associate Vice Chancellor of University Communications Stacie A. Spector.
There is no formal timeline for the committee’s goals, Spector said, and the identity of finalists will be released only after all interviews are finished.
“”I’m not sure when it will be over,”” committee member and A.S. President Harry Khanna said in an e-mail.
Earlier this year, Fox said in a statement that the committee was seeking a replacement with a commitment to shared governance, strong communication skills, the ability to maintain fiscal, physical and human resources and extensive experience in strategic planning and management of change.
“”The best candidates will have a commitment to, and a demonstrated record of, success in achieving institutional goals that facilitate the removal of barriers to the recruitment, retention and advancement of talented students, faculty and staff from historically excluded populations who are currently underrepresented,”” Fox said.
Watson, who will officially retire on July 1, said that the new vice chancellor should be an individual who is deeply committed to immediate student welfare as well as their long-term interests.
Of particular concern for the replacement will be campus alcohol policies, which Watson developed and has steadfastly enforced. Currently, advertisement of alcohol at campus events is prohibited, a problem that Khanna said last year hindered the adequate experimentation and development that college life entails.
According to A.S. President-elect Marco Murillo, who takes office on May 11, there is “”a very good chance that the alcohol policies will change in the upcoming year,”” especially on the heels of the A.S. Council’s plans to increase the number of popular Bear Gardens, which provide free alcohol to of-age students.
Watson, however, said that the new vice chancellor should not necessarily change the policies, just review them.
Murillo said the new vice chancellor will be a crucial link for students because of the position’s close relationship with the A.S. Council and its decisive role in campus culture and student life. He also said that he plans to work with the new vice chancellor right away to address issues including retention efforts, athletics, outside sponsorships for student services and campus social life.
Watson said that his replacement will inherit too many projects to enumerate.
