Hunt commences for graduate school deans

In many ways, the UCLA Anderson School of Management and the
UCLA School of Law are their own entities on campus. They have
their own curricula, administrative offices and student service
organizations.

Yet the decision of who to appoint as the two schools’
deans rests largely upon Chancellor Albert Carnesale.

Search committees appointed by Carnesale are in the midst of
looking for candidates to fill the two openings, which will be
vacant in the fall.

Along with appointing the committee members, the chancellor will
make the final decision on who next year’s deans will be,
based on input from the committees and faculty.

“Traditionally, it’s a chancellor’s
prerogative. … At some point, the buck stops at the
chancellor,” said law Professor Paul Bergman.

The future deans will be directly accountable and responsible to
the chancellor, which is why Carnesale has so much influence in the
decision-making process, said Erik Mokover, associate dean of
career services at the Anderson School.

Dean Bruce Willison will leave the Anderson School this year,
marking the end of his five-year term, to pursue his interests in
the corporate realm.

The Anderson School has just begun its search for next
year’s dean, after receiving search committee appointments
from the chancellor.

Next week, committee members will meet, and with the help of the
private search firm Hodge, Neiderer & Cariani, they will begin
to scour the country for candidates, said Eduardo Schwartz, an
Anderson School search committee member.

In the absence of Dean Jonathan Varat, who resigned last year
after a five-year term, interim Dean Norman Abrams has been guiding
the law school.

The law school search committee is conducting screening
interviews to create a “short list” of nominees, which
will then be passed along to the chancellor, said Barbara Herman,
the law school search committee chairwoman.

The committees, comprised of faculty and staff members from
across the campus, alumni and members of the surrounding community,
will garner recommendations from existing UCLA faculty members,
search firms and word of mouth.

Afterward, they will interview candidates until a list of
proposed nominees is created to present to the chancellor.

Only a few know which candidates the search committees are
considering or what is happening with the search.

Administrators said the process is discreet for a number of
reasons, including the need for the search to be streamlined.

“When you have these kinds of searches, everybody under
the sun wants to be involved, and thinks it’s appropriate
that they’re involved, but in fact, there is also a level of
efficiency that’s necessary,” said Mokover.

Both searches have an air of secrecy surrounding them because
any faculty or staff member can be a candidate, and that is not
information that needs to be floating around, said law Professor
Alison Anderson.

Many faculty members say they are comfortable with the amount of
input they have in the appointment of next year’s deans.

The law school’s search process includes the direct
contribution of faculty and staff, as they provide recommendations
to the committee. Additionally, faculty members can suggest values,
qualities and academic expertise they would like the prospective
dean to possess, Bergman said.

“The search committee plays a very serious role in the
chancellor’s decision,” Anderson said.

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