University of California President Mark G. Yudof has named 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 Berkeley. Sherry Lansing, chair of the Board of Regents and committee member, has appointed five regents to serve.
Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, a world-renowned physicist, plans to leave the position in December to return to teaching and research in the departments of physics, and materials science and engineering. He became Berkeley's ninth chancellor in 2004 and his leadership has continued to advance UC Berkeley as a global force in higher education and research. Birgeneau has championed the largest fundraising campaign in Berkeley's history and guided the campus through the most challenging financial times UC has ever faced.
"Chancellor Birgeneau has proven to be a passionate, dedicated and effective steward of the world's greatest public university, said President Yudof. "He has been an ardent champion of academic excellence, as well as an unwavering advocate for the underdog."
The members of the search advisory committee for Birgeneau's replacement include:
- UC Regents Richard Blum, Russell Gould, Monica Lozano, Leslie Tang Schilling and Bruce Varner
- Faculty representatives Robert Powell, vice chair of the UC Academic Council and professor of chemical engineering/materials science and food science and technology, UC Davis; Judith Stepan-Norris, professor of sociology, UC Irvine; Fiona Doyle, professor of materials science and engineering, UC Berkeley; Marjorie Shapiro, professor of physics, UC Berkeley; Donald McQuade, professor of English, UC Berkeley
- Staff representative Paul Riofski, manager, Berkeley Nanosciences and Nanoengineering Institute
- Student representative Bahar Navab, president, Graduate Assembly; and Shahryar Abbasi, external vice president, Associated Students
- Alumni representative Karen Leong Clancy, president, Cal Alumni Association
- UC Berkeley Foundation chair, Arnold Silverman
- Ex-officio committee members President Yudof, convener of the committee; and Sherry Lansing, chair of the Board of Regents.
An undergraduate student representative will be named soon.
The committee's first meeting will be held May 4 at UC Berkeley, where committee members and invited guests will meet in closed session to gather ideas and comments relevant to the search. 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 November 2012.
In addition to presentations by those constituency representatives who will meet with the committee on May 4, public comments are encouraged throughout the search process. Comments may be submitted via email to BerkeleyChancellorSearch@ucop.edu.
The search will be assisted by Spencer Stuart, a firm previously retained by the University of California to assist with campus and medical center searches.
- More information about the search from the Berkeley campus: www.berkeley.edu/chancellorsearch
- Copies of the regents' policy on the appointment of the chancellors: www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/policies/7102.html
- For more news and information about the University of California: www.universityofcalifornia.edu
- UC Berkeley contact: Linda Morris Williams, associate chancellor, chancellorsearch@berkeley.edu