Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1990 [PAGE 212]

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BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[March 14

process followed in the other four chancellor searches in Chicago and Urbana over the last decade or more. In this instance, following the resignation of Don Langenberg, I conferred with the faculty in regard to the formation of the Search Committee. T h e UIC Senate Executive Committee provided me the names of faculty members who would serve on that committee. Other committee members also were chosen independently of me and by the constituencies they represented. For example, I added two students who were nominated by their respective student associations; representatives of nonacademic and academic professional employees; and two deans, one each from the east and the west sides of the campus nominated by their colleagues. After giving the committee its formal charge, and writing letters around the country to solicit nominations, I stood back to let the committee do its job. T h e only unusual aspect in this particular search was the decision, at the request of the committee, to retain a professional search firm to assist in the search and to help enlarge the candidate pool. We had not used such a firm in a chancellor search before and they were helpful. Having said that the standard process was followed, however, does not suggest that for future searches the process should not be reviewed and, if warranted, revised. It is time to look afresh at the composition of search committees, how they are formed, and how they go about their work. I will therefore recommend to the Board of Trustees and to the faculty leadership on our two campuses that we form a select committee composed of faculty members, board members, and administrators to review our current procedures for presidential and chancellorial searches and to return with observations and recommendations as to how these may be improved. This review should commence relatively soon and I hope the committee's report will be available before the start of the next academic year. Perhaps a second comment needs to be made regarding the unusual public exposure and comment this search has received. We should not shy away from the public interest that surrounded the selection of the next chancellor of UIC. Universities are important in our society, and it makes a difference who leads them. I was amused and somewhat comforted this Sunday to read in the New York Times that even Harvard is having some modest difficulty in selecting its next president. I have no doubt Harvard will find an able successor to Derek Bok, and it is important that they do. So too with UIC. Harvard and UIC are quite different, but good leadership on both campuses is crucial to the future of the society. It is important for us to remember that the future of Metropolitan Chicago and UIC are intertwined. We will grow in strength as Chicago prospers. Chicago, in turn, must have the presence of a major public university of high quality if it is to be strong. We are that university. UIC is the academic peer of Michigan State, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio State, and Indiana, and that's good company. But with the backing of Chicago and the State of Illinois, this University and one Chicago campus can do even more. Therefore it is understandable that the mayor of Chicago, the governor of Illinois, business and civic leaders, and citizens at large would be concerned about and want to express an opinion in the selection of a new chancellor to guide the campus. Everyone has had that opportunity and it is now appropriate that the choice be made. T h e job of the new chancellor is not easy. T h e management of 15 schools and colleges, including a major health sciences center and hospital, a campus budget of over $600 million, some 10,000 employees serving more than 25,000 students — all of this is no small job. UIC has made remarkable academic strides over the last decade. We are in the forefront of reforming Chicago's public schools; we are giving leadership to a better health care delivery system; and helping build a stronger economic base in Metropolitan Chicago. T h e chancellor does have a big job, but we can do more. Those who say we need a higher profile, that our linkages to the business community need to be stronger, and that we can and should play a more