After Chancellor Carol Tomlinson-Keasey’s March 8 announcement of her resignation, many people around the campus and surrounding communities are wondering what comes next. The University of California has a well-defined process for campuses that need to find new leadership.
The first steps are the national advertisement of the position and the appointment of an advisory committee by the UC Office of the President (UCOP). UC Merced Assistant Chancellor Janet Young said the campus can expect an announcement regarding the selection of the committee from the UCOP in the near future.
In accordance with UC policy, the committee will include three UC Merced faculty members and two faculty members from other UC campuses. The five faculty members will serve as an ad hoc candidate screening subcommittee. Chairman Gerald Parsky of the UC Regents and UC President Robert Dynes will serve as ex officio members of the committee. Also attending all committee meetings will be a graduate and an undergraduate student from UC Merced, as well as a UC Merced staff employee. Traditionally, an alumni representative also attends committee meetings; however, since UC Merced does not have its own alumni yet, a substitution may be made.
The first meeting of the advisory committee is traditionally a campus visit, said Young. This allows groups representative of students, faculty, staff, local officials, trustees and others to meet with the committee to provide their opinions about factors important to be considered during the search process. Once its schedule has been determined, this meeting will be publicized to the campus.
UC will also use a third-party consultant in the selection process, Young added.
The committee members will make recommendations to Dynes, who will decide which candidate to recommend to the Regents. Following the Regents’ approval, the new chancellor will be announced to the public.
For Tomlinson-Keasey, immediate plans following her departure from the chancellor’s office include writing the history of UC Merced and then returning to teaching and research as a faculty member in UC Merced’s School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts.
