Advisory committee named for chancellor search

To: UC Santa Cruz Community

From: Ashish Sahni, Associate Chancellor

University of California President Janet Napolitano today announced the formation of an advisory committee of university faculty, staff, students, alumni and foundation representatives to help in the international search for a new chancellor to lead our campus. Board of Regents Chair George Kiefer also appointed five regents to serve on the committee.

Chancellor George Blumenthal, who announced in September that he planned to retire at the end of the current academic year, will continue in the role until a new chancellor is appointed.

The members of the search advisory committee for the UC Santa Cruz chancellor include:

  • UC President Janet Napolitano
  • UC Board of Regents Chair George Kieffer
  • UC Regents Darin Anderson, Devon Graves, Richard Leib, Lark Park, and Charlene Zettel
  • Robert May, chair of the systemwide Academic Senate
  • UC Santa Cruz faculty representatives Don Brenneis, professor of Anthropology; Ana Christina Ravelo, professor of Ocean Sciences, Abel Rodriguez, professor of Statistics and associate dean for Graduate Affairs at the Baskin School of Engineering
  • Janice Reiff, professor of History, Statistics & Digital Humanities and special assistant to the EVC for Online Teaching & Learning, UC Los Angeles
  • Ayo Banjo, undergraduate student and president, Student Union Assembly
  • Katie Hellier, vice president of shared governance, Graduate Student Association and PhD candidate, researcher – Carter Labs
  • Paul Simpson, past member UC Santa Cruz Alumni Council
  • Fiona Weigant, manager, Education Department and chair of the UC Santa Cruz staff advisory board
  • Kamil Hasan, vice chair of the UC Santa Cruz Foundation

The committee's initial meeting will be held November 16 on our campus, where members and invited guests will gather in a closed session. The forum will include remarks by Napolitano, followed by separate sessions with various campus constituency groups. The president and committee members also will participate in a luncheon with alumni, donors and community leaders.

The advisory committee will be involved in recruiting, screening and conducting interviews with candidates for the position. The committee's work will be scheduled so that candidates can be presented to Napolitano for consideration and a recommended nominee submitted to the Board of Regents for approval, tentatively by May 2019.

In addition to presentations by those constituency representatives who will meet with the committee, public input is encouraged throughout the search process. Comments may be submitted via email to ucscchancellorsearch@ucop.edu.

The executive search firm Isaacson, Miller will assist in the process. Submission of nominations and application materials may be sent via email to santacruzchancellor@imsearch.com