Search begins for new chancellor
BY Ajay singh
Today Staff Writer
UC President Robert C. Dynes presided over a 17-member committee of regents, faculty, staff, students, alumni and community representatives on campus Dec. 8 who will help him search for the next chancellor of UCLA.
Chancellor Albert Carnesale is scheduled to step down June 30, 2006, capping an illustrious nine-year career as UCLA’s leader. After a sabbatical, Carnesale, known for his expertise on international affairs and national security issues, intends to resume his teaching, scholarship and engagement in public policy matters.
It was the search committee’s first meeting, an all-day event held in closed session at Covel Commons. Members met with other faculty, staff, students and community representatives to listen to what they are looking for in the new chancellor as well as to learn about the needs and concerns of the various campus constituencies.
“People compare UCLA to a corporation, but it’s also like a medium-sized town, and the chancellor is like its mayor,” said search committee member Kathleen Komar, a professor of comparative literature and former chair of the Academic Senate. “The next chancellor will have to be somebody who can understand a really complex operation, which ranges from research to teaching large numbers of undergraduates and trying to maintain a very diverse campus community.”
Besides Komar, the committee has five faculty representatives — two of them from campus: Alfonso F. Cardenas, professor of computer science, and James S. Economou, professor of surgical oncology.
Committee member Adam Rosenthal, UC’s student regent and a UCLA alumnus, said he expected the next chancellor to be someone who will continue to make UCLA “the best institution of higher learning in the world, and with that comes commitment to excellence, diversity and public service.”
Another member, Doug Padley, president of UCLA Staff Assembly, said he would do his best to raise issues important to the staff during the search. The committee’s next meeting is scheduled for Jan. 6 in Oakland. |
