Features

Search For New UCB Chancellor Narrows to Eight Finalists

Friday May 28, 2004

UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl is on his way out. But according to UC officials, the university has still not chosen his replacement. 

Berdahl, who has been chancellor at Berkeley for seven years, is scheduled to leave in June, but might have to stay on briefly if a new chancellor is not hired before then.  

According to Paul Schwartz, spokesperson for the UC Office of the President, the candidate pool has been narrowed to eight finalists. Schwartz said the panel assigned to the search hopes to narrow that to one final selection within the next four to six weeks and then have UC President Robert Dynes take that recommendation to the Board of Regents. When the university originally announced the panel to find the new chancellor, President Dynes said the committee had hoped to bring a recommendation to the Board of Regents by April.  

“The priority for us is to get the best person possible, not hit a pre-determined date,” said Schwartz.  

Although the UC system, Berkeley included, has been in the spotlight because of budget cuts, Schwartz said cuts have not either interfered with the search or delayed it.  

“Other institutional leaders are well aware of the financial problems facing the state and their impact on UCs,” said Schwartz. “Nevertheless, we feel that we’ve gotten a healthy pool of candidates. The search is running smoothly, but sometimes these things take more or less time than anticipated.” 

Marie Felde from the Public Relations office at UC Berkeley said not knowing who the new chancellor will be has not disrupted anything on campus. She did say that there is “a great deal of interest, not surprisingly,” as to who the new chancellor will be. 

 

—Jakob Schiller