Advisory Committee Named for UC Riverside Chancellor Search

Jane Close Conoley from UC Santa Barbara will lead the campus while the committee works on the search

By Kris Lovekin on December 20, 2012

University of California President Mark G. Yudof today (Dec. 20) announced the appointment of an advisory committee of university faculty, staff, students, alumni and foundation representatives to help in the national search for a new chancellor to lead UC Riverside. Sherry Lansing, chair of the Board of Regents, also appointed five regents to serve.

Outgoing Chancellor Timothy P. White, an internationally-renowned biology and physiology researcher, plans to leave the University of California on Dec. 30 to become chancellor of the California State University system.

White became Riverside’s eighth chancellor in 2008 and launched an ambitious 10-year strategic plan to take the campus to new levels of nationally recognized excellence. During his tenure, the Riverside campus grew to more than 21,000 students. White also established the foundation of a UC Riverside School of Medicine, obtaining start-up resources and hiring the school’s first dean.

“Chancellor White generated tremendous momentum for UC Riverside,” said President Yudof. “It’s critical that we find the right leader to continue Riverside on its current trajectory and propel it to even greater heights of academic excellence and public service.”

Jane Close Conoley, dean of UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, will serve as acting chancellor of UC Riverside until the appointment of a successor to Chancellor White.

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

• UC Regents Eddie Island, Fred Ruiz, Jonathan Stein, Bruce D. Varner and Charlene Zettel
• Faculty representatives Robert Powell, chair of the UC Academic Senate and professor of chemical engineering and materials science, UC Davis; Mayfair Yang, professor of religious studies, UC Santa Barbara; Jose Wudka, professor of physics and astronomy, UC Riverside; Yolanda Moses, professor of anthropology, UC Riverside; and Neal Schiller, professor of biomedical sciences, UC Riverside
• Staff representative Robert Wolfer, information technology manager, UC Riverside
• Student representatives Liam Dow, president, Associated Students, UC Riverside (undergraduate student representative); and Aaron Jones, chairman, Student Services Fee Advisory Committee, UC Riverside (graduate student representative)
• Alumni representative Mary Schuler, president of the UC Riverside Alumni Association
• UC Riverside Foundation representative Thomas T. Haider, M.D, member of the UC Riverside Foundation board of trustees
• Ex-officio committee members UC President Mark G. Yudof, convener of the committee; and Sherry Lansing, chair of the Board of Regents

The committee’s first meeting will be held Jan. 10, 2013 at UC Riverside, where committee members and invited guests will gather in closed session. The daylong forum will include remarks by President Yudof, 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 President Yudof for consideration and a recommended nominee submitted to the Board of Regents, tentatively by July 2013.

The search will be assisted by David Bellshaw and Bernie Jones of the executive search firm Isaacson, Miller.

Archived under: Inside UCR, Academic Senate, Board of Regents, Chancellor Timothy P. White, press release, uc office of the president, UC Regents

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