Doesn't Anybody Know How to Play This Game?: U.C. Berkeley Administration Blogging
Nicholas Dirks, Chancellor of the University of California at Berkeley, writes an email...
And my response is: Shouldn't that read "finish the search[es]" rather than "launch the search[es]"? Doesn't anybody know how to play this game?
If you can without significant loss of administrative coherence leave the positions of Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, of Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance, and of Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs open not just until a new Chancellor appears next March but for eight months beyond that until November 2017, you really do not need either an Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, a Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance, or a Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs.
I would bet Berkeley needs a long-term appointee in at least one of these three jobs. If not, I see easy permanent administrative savings of about $1,000,000/year--the equivalent of a $25M gift--from dismantling those three offices.
Therefore the searches should be all tee-ed up with at most six finalists so that the new Chancellor next March can make a quick decision and get the show on the road...
Nicholas Dirks:
Dear campus community,
I am writing with an update pursuant to my announcement last week that I will be stepping down as Chancellor as soon as a successor is selected and in place.
My paramount objective in these coming months is to ensure stability and continuity of the leadership and the campus during this time of transition. To that end, I will continue working closely with interim EVCP Carol Christ, the administration and the Deans, and the leadership of the Academic Senate on the important decisions facing the campus, notably our ongoing efforts at administrative restructuring designed to restore the university’s budget.
Some of the most important decisions any Chancellor makes concerns the composition of his or her senior leadership team. For that reason, we will not launch the search for the new permanent EVCP until the new Chancellor is ready to do so. We will also delay searches for the new Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance, and for the new Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. These important appointments will be left to my successor to make.
