Thousands of applications flood the offices of Murphy Hall each
year, but prospective students aren’t the only ones vying for
positions at UCLA.
In a highly competitive process, administrators are also
reviewing the applications of people who want top-level positions
in the in UCLA’s College of Letters and Sciences.
With the recent vacancies of the provost (whose title will be
changed to executive dean), the life sciences dean and the
humanities dean, administrators have stepped up their efforts to
find replacements for the positions. The resignations will leave
nearly half of the positions for deans and provosts at the college
empty.
“We are obviously losing a great deal of talent,
experience and wisdom,” said current Provost Brian
Copenhaver, who will be resigning this summer. “That is the
way universities work ““ there are no lifetime
appointments.”
The reasons for the vacancies are as diverse as the tasks of the
people resigning. Copenhaver speculated it is just a coincidence
that so many people are leaving at the same time, adding that it is
“a matter of chronology.”
In addition to Copenhaver and Fred Eiserling, the current life
sciences dean, who will both leave their positions in the summer to
focus more on their research and teaching, Humanities Dean Pauline
Yu will also leave this summer to serve as president of the
American Council of Learned Societies.
In the wake of these three resignations of top-level positions,
administrators are aggressively searching for new candidates.
But the search is not easy. With up to 250 candidates from
across the country competing for a single position, finding the
right person can take years. Because “recruiting the best
faculty is a minimum condition for remaining among the very best of
the universities,” UCLA will aggressively seek the best
people to fill the vacant positions, said Executive Vice Chancellor
Daniel Neuman.
UCLA is not alone in searching for faculty. Though many people
are attracted to UCLA because of its high academic reputation,
current budget constraints make it difficult for the university to
compete with private schools in the hiring process. The economic
recession may have affected everyone, but private schools that
receive more endowments and have higher tuition rates still have
more resources than public schools like UCLA.
“Public universities in general are struggling to compete
with the top private universities,” Eiserling said.
“Several years ago, the gap between the resources of public
and private schools was enormous. The loss of private endowments
has made it smaller, but the gap is still there.”
Eiserling is no stranger to the process of finding new deans. He
headed a search to find a new engineering dean that lasted almost
two years.
Once an official resigns or leaves, there are several steps
before a new person is appointed, according to Vice Provost of
Undergraduate Education Judith Smith, who worked on a search
committee to find the vice chancellor of student affairs.
After the chancellor’s office decides on a search
committee, with the help of the academic senate, the school
advertises the job in a national forum. Sometimes, officials use
search firms, which are specialized in helping colleges and
universities discreetly find applicants. Although some people apply
for the positions, most candidates are nominated by their
colleagues.
After a slew of cuts, the committee narrows the search from 50
to 250 candidates to three or five who come to campus for extensive
interviews before the chancellor makes a final decision.
Though Eiserling said he formed new relationships with other
departments through the search, he characterized the search as
time-consuming yet rewarding.
While most administrative searches were limited to people within
UCLA, Chancellor Charles Young, who preceded current Chancellor
Albert Carnesale, extended the searches to include national and
international candidates, a policy Chancellor Carnesale has also
adopted.
“You really want to make sure that leadership is as good
as you can find,” Eiserling said.
Administrators say they care about student opinion, but many of
them agree that it would be impractical for students to sit on most
of the search committees for new administrators because the process
is so time-consuming.
In addition, students will graduate after a few years whereas
the faculty and administrators will continue to live with their
decisions, Neuman said.
In general, students are a lot less active than they were in the
late sixties, Eiserling said.
It would be impractical for students to be involved in an entire
two- to three-year process, that includes summers, but Eiserling
said many people in the administration would be receptive to the
possibility of a large student organization, such as the
Undergraduate Students Council Association, being involved in the
final stages of the selection process before the chancellor makes
his decision.
With reports from Christian Mignot, Daily Bruin Senior Staff