Steppin' out

Published: Monday, September 28, 1998

Monday, September 28, 1998

Steppin' out

CHANGES: In our new chancellor's first year, UCLA saw its top vice chancellorship and three deanships change hands. And this year, we expect two more deans and vice chancellors. But don't fret; this is natural for a transitional phase, the administration says.

By Mason Stockstill

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

In July 1997, then-Chancellor Charles Young bid farewell to the position he had held for 28 years, and Albert Carnesale, fresh from his post as provost at Harvard University, took over the post as UCLA's chief officer.

Within one year of this chancellorial swap, the campus would see its second-highest administrative position, as well as four deanships change hands. On top of that, there are two positions yet to be filled (one deanship and one vice chancellorship), and two of the five new administrators are only temporary replacements (a dean and a vice chancellor).

That's one new chancellor, three new vice chancellors, and five new deans - all inside of two years.

This huge administrative shift marks a much bigger change in UCLA's upper administrative echelon than the mere switch of chancellors would have brought; in fact, it means that the university will have a much different face in the years to come.

"Whenever you have a transition ... some changes in the administration occur," Carnesale said.

The highest position that the chancellor made an appointment to last year was the executive vice chancellorship. The executive vice chancellor is the second-highest administrator at the university and handles the day-to-day operations of the university.

That position is currently filled by Wyatt "Rory" Hume, who was previously the dean of the dental school. Hume took over the position previously held by Charles Kennel, now the director of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography at UC San Diego.

Another big loss for UCLA was Ted Mitchell, who had previously held the positions of vice chancellor of external affairs and dean of the Graduate School of Education & Information Sciences (GSE&IS). These positions are now filled by interim replacements.

Mitchell is now the vice president for education and strategic initiatives at the J. Paul Getty trust, as well as the interim leader of the Getty Education Institute.

Aside from Kennel and Mitchell's departures, Dean of Law Susan Prager stepped down from her position, as did Dean of Theater, Film and Television Gilbert Cates. The fourth dean was Hume, who moved into the executive vice chancellor position.

Carnesale has acknowledged that this is indeed a large shift in UCLA's administrative picture. He and other administrators have brushed aside any speculation that these changes are anything more than a coincidence, however.

"Surely, the changes are probably somewhat more than in a typical year," he said. "But if you add up the total number of deans, vice chancellors and senior administrators, and try and think of what a reasonable time in office might be, you're always going to be searching for some. It would probably be rare that they're all filled."

"There's been no cleaning house," he continued.

Kennel and Mitchell both agreed with the chancellor's assessment, saying that neither Young's departure nor any pressure or friction from Carnesale caused them to leave the university.

"I had no issues with Young or Carnesale," Kennel said. "Al invited me to stay on."

Mitchell also pointed out that turnover like this is to be expected at a time of transition but that UCLA's has been relatively modest.

"I have studied transitions for a while now, and looking nationally, one expects more turnover than we have experienced at UCLA," he said.

Carnesale has said that in order to get a clearer picture of why so many administrators chose to move on at the same time, one has to evaluate each position on a case-by-case basis.

Kennel's name was originally one of those tossed around by the UC search committee that was looking for a replacement for Young. As the executive vice chancellor, Kennel seemed a natural candidate.

"When the search committee interviewed me, I encouraged them to think big," he said.

After Carnesale's appointment, Kennel found himself the subject of another job offer - this one from Scripps.

"When the Scripps job came along, I had a big choice to make," he said.

In the end, he chose to go to Scripps because he felt that, like many of his peers, he was "still a scientist at heart."

Mitchell was also swayed by an opportunity that he felt was too good not to let go by.

"Vice Chancellor Mitchell had for some time been looking at expanding his horizons," Carnesale said.

Mitchell himself said that his decision to leave UCLA was a difficult one but one that he felt he had to make.

"The opportunity to play a leadership role at the Getty at this point in its organizational life ... (was one) I could not pass up," he said.

Carnesale also pointed out that since deans are generally appointed to five-year terms, the university should be used to a significant amount of turnover every few years.

Also, some of the senior administrators had been expecting to move on but had stayed a little longer to help with the transition.

"To some extent, people were good enough to stay on ... even though they may have intended to make a move," he said.

Prager's name had also surfaced during the search for Young's successor. She had been named as one of the four finalists for the position, before being passed over in favor of Carnesale.

Ever since then, it had been widely rumored that Prager was weighing her options for other positions both within and outside of UCLA. Carnesale indicated that Prager had stayed on to help both Young and himself through the transitional phase.

Dr. No Hee Park was appointed as the new dean of dentistry almost immediately after Hume was bumped up to the executive vice chancellorship. Carnesale said that this change came quickly because it had only been two years since the last search for a new dean.

"A full search had (already) been done, in which (Park) had emerged as a leading candidate," Carnesale said.

One thing that all of Carnesale's appointments have so far had in common is that they have all come from within UCLA, despite large search committees that looked for the best candidates nationwide.

Specifically, Hume was already at UCLA when he was chosen to be the next executive vice chancellor; Law Professor Jonathan Varat has been chosen as Prager's successor at the law school; Robert Rosen, a film scholar who was previously the chair of the film and television department, took over for Cates; and Park, who assumed Hume's position.

Administrators say that if anything, this trend reflects the high level of excellence present in UCLA's faculty.

"This speaks well of the institution, that we are able to develop leadership from within and to recognize it," Mitchell said.

The vacant deanships are at the Anderson Graduate School of Management, and in the Graduate School of Education & Information Sciences (GSE&IS).

Anderson was previously headed by John Mamer, who was appointed on a temporary basis when former Dean William Pierskalla left the position in August 1997. Mitchell was the previous dean of GSE&IS.

Also still vacant are two vice chancellorships, both of which were vacated (to a certain extent) by Mitchell.

The other vice chancellorship, that of finance and budget, is a new position that was created last year. This new position will handle some of the responsibilities that were previously taken care of by the vice chancellor of academic planning and budget - a position most recently held by Mitchell.

This position was eliminated by Young when Mitchell, who had held the position, recommended to the chancellor that a new position be created, effectively dividing academic and financial strategy.

Carnesale also said that this kind of organizational restructuring - creating a new position - does not represent a very large change in the way UCLA's administration works.

"You often see some changes in the organization" during a transitional phase, the chancellor said. "We have not yet done any significant changes in organization.

Carnesale has indicated, however, that more organizational changes are to be expected for the upcoming year. The reason that there were no other changes last year was that he felt that any organizational changes should not be affected until the position of executive vice chancellor was filled.

Kennel added that he would expect to see a more active Chancellor Carnesale this year.

"He's revving up for change," Kennel said. "At a big university ... change is more or less a way of life."

Steppin' out

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