UC is conducting a search for a new President to replace Janet Napolitano. The Davis Faculty Association has been working actively to ensure both an open search process and candidate commitment to shared governance and to renewed state funding for the University of California.
There will be a forum at UCD with the Regent’s search committee this Friday, December 13, at 1:00 pm at the Vanderhoef Studio Theater in the Mondavi Center (map).
This forum is not designed for input from faculty, staff, and students. It seeks to gather input from higher education associations and other organizations in the fields of postsecondary education, work force and economic development, student success, etc. However, the forum will include an opportunity for public comment.
There will be at least two town halls held for constituent groups of the University (faculty, staff, students, etc) to have more direct input with the Regent’s Special Committee for the Selection of a UC President, however the time and place of these town halls has not been announced.
UC has set up a website just to try to explain the presidential search process, and also an email address to collect input: UCPresidentSearch@ucop.edu
The UC has already hired executive search firm Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates and developed selection criteria.
The DFA’s systemwide parent, the Council UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA), worked with the UC Academic Senate to improve those search criteria early in the process (for comparison, the former criteria are here). We are pleased that the Regent’s Special Committee incorporated our main top priorities.
These include requiring that the new President have knowledge of the academic enterprise and an understanding of UC’s distinctive culture of shared governance; to have a track record of advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion; and to lead through partnership and collaboration rather than top-down authority. Another important new criteria is that the President have “experience working with organized labor, history of positive labor-management relations, and commitment to successful collective bargaining.” And, particularly important, the new criteria require that that the President should have the “ability to successfully advocate for public funding.” By contrast, the 2013 criteria lamented that the age of state financial support was effectively over and said the new President must address the deficit through private fundraising and belt-tightening.
Members of the DFA Board are planning to attend the forum this Friday, and we look forward to seeing you there.