In recent job postings published nationwide, ideal candidates for president of the University of California system are described like this:
"An individual of uncommon wisdom" to head "the best public research university system in the world." Someone who can provide "visionary and dynamic leadership" to more than 220,000 students and 170,000 professors and staff at 10 campuses, five medical centers and three national energy and weapons labs. Will control a $17-billion annual operating budget.
But the ad, not surprisingly, leaves some uncomfortable things out. A truly candid one also would mention skills required to:
Navigate a state budget crisis that threatens to take a nasty bite out of spending; cope with sometimes cranky faculty who jealously guard their academic freedoms, a student body angry about rising fees and parents worried about admissions standards; deal with a restive Board of Regents that helped nudge out the last president in a controversy over executive compensation policies.
Of course, public notices would never be so upfront in the recently launched search to replace President Robert C. Dynes, who said he intends to step down by June after nearly five years for personal reasons.
But UC officials and higher education experts say the position's challenges are known around the nation and could make it tougher than in the past to find a willing person with the right scholarly, managerial and political talents.
"It's not an impossible job but just a very hard, demanding job. It's a job that really requires a particular kind of skill and particular kind of commitment," said Patrick M. Callan, president of the nonprofit National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education in San Jose. "You've got to have the academic authority to know how to deal with a very strong faculty. And it's a highly political job obviously in a state where politics are volatile and the monies are short."
Yet, he stressed, it is such an influential job nationally that it still is sure to attract many candidates and "for the right person, it will certainly bring out the best in them."
The search is in a very early stage, without even a semi-finalist pool of names, according to Richard Blum, chairman of the Board of Regents and head of the 10-member hiring-advisory committee composed of regents, including the student and alumni representatives. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, an ex-officio regent, is on the panel but has not attended any of its closed-door sessions yet, a UC spokesman said.
