The University of California, Irvine’s new chancellor is set to be named Thursday.
The University of California is set to hold a regents-only meeting in San Francisco Thursday to review President Robert Dynes’ final recommendation and compensation.
The regents are expected to vote on Dynes’ candidate choice later Thursday, according to the UC system’s lead hiring consultant Alberto Pimentel of A.T. Kearney Inc.
Those involved in the decision-making have remained tight-lipped on how the search has gone, declining to discuss possible candidates even off the record.
One local candidate that could get the nod is Executive Vice Chancellor Mike Gottfredson. UCI officials last year said the search would be national, but that it was “highly likely” there would be key internal people included in the search.
The University of California Office of the President formed a 17-member chancellor search advisory committee in January.
Current UCI Chancellor Ralph Cicerone is set to leave June 30. He’s set to begin as president of the National Academies of Science in Washington, D.C., on July 1.
Local executives have said that finding a new chancellor who can raise funds for UCI should be a top priority.
Conexant Systems Inc. Chief Executive Dwight Decker, who chairs UCI’s Chief Executive Roundtable, said in a previous interview that the search committee should look for someone who would foster regional economic development.
“That’s not something universities traditionally have played a big role in,” he said. “But it’s becoming clearer that a major research university can play a big role in helping the community develop its economy.”
Decker pointed to Silicon Valley drawing talent and research from Stanford and UC Berkeley, the Boston area drawing from Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Austin, Texas, drawing from the University of Texas at Austin, as examples.
