UC President Names Advisory Committee in Search for New UC Merced Chancellor

UC Merced Aerial Picture
June 7, 2006

University of California President Robert C. Dynes has named a 14-member committee of university regents, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community representatives to advise him in the search for the next chancellor of UC Merced.

Carol Tomlinson-Keasey, the founding UC Merced chancellor, announced last March that she plans to step down on Aug. 31, 2006, to return to teaching and scholarship.

Tomlinson-Keasey, 63, a longtime UC faculty member and administrator, assumed UC Merced's top position on Aug. 1, 1999. Under her energetic leadership, the vision of establishing the first UC campus in the San Joaquin Valley — the 10th in the prestigious University of California system — flourished, despite unprecedented upheaval in the state's financial and political landscape. The new campus officially opened on Sept. 5, 2005, with nearly 900 students.

Named to serve on the advisory committee are:

  • UC regents Richard Blum, Odessa Johnson and Fred Ruiz;
  • Faculty representatives Gautam Chaudhuri, chair of obstetrics and gynecology, UCLA; John Oakley, chair of the University-wide Academic Senate; Dunya Ramicova, department of social sciences, humanities and arts, UC Merced; Samuel Traina, director of the Sierra Nevada Research Institute, UC Merced; and Roland Winston, schools of natural science and engineering, UC Merced;
  • Staff representative Larry Salinas, director of governmental relations, UC Merced;
  • Student representatives Josh Franco, president of the UC Merced Undergraduate Student Association; and Gyami Shrestha, Graduate Students Association representative;
  • Alumni representative Lee Andersen, president of the systemwide San Joaquin Valley Alumni Network;
  • Foundation representative Robert W. Carpenter, president of the UC Merced Foundation;
  • Ex officio members of the selection committee include Dynes, convener of the committee, and Gerald L. Parsky, chairman of the UC Board of Regents.

Bruce B. Darling, UC senior vice president university affairs, and Linda Morris Williams, UC associate president, will serve as consultants to the committee.

The committee's first meeting will be scheduled in the next couple of weeks at UC Merced, where committee members will meet in closed session with faculty, staff, students and community representatives to gather ideas and comments regarding the search and to learn the distinct needs of the Merced campus.

The committee also will be involved in recruiting, screening and conducting interviews with candidates for the position.