Updates on the Search for our Next Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost (EVCP)

Campus UpdateFaculty and Staff

Chancellor Block sent the following message to UCLA faculty and staff.

Dear Colleagues:

I write to provide several updates on the search for UCLA’s next executive vice chancellor and provost (EVCP).

The EVCP is one of UCLA’s most important leadership positions — a role with responsibility for our campus’s day-to-day operations as well as oversight of our complex academic enterprise. Additionally, this is a critical time in the life of our university, as we emerge from the pandemic and consider the ways in which UCLA should evolve as a result of what we have learned from it. In the past few weeks we have been laying the groundwork for the EVCP search, and I am eager to work with our campus community to find an excellent candidate to serve in the role at such a pivotal moment.

The search for our next EVCP will be managed by my office. Roger Wakimoto, vice chancellor for research and creative activities and professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences, will chair the search committee. Other members of the committee include:

  • Leisy J. Abrego — professor and chair, César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies
  • Onyebuchi A. Arah — professor of epidemiology; associate dean, UCLA Graduate Division
  • S. Thomas Carmichael — professor and chair, Department of Neurology; Frances Stark Chair
  • Jessica Cattelino — professor of anthropology; vice chair, UCLA Academic Senate
  • Christina A. Christie — Wasserman Dean, School of Education and Information Studies; professor of education
  • Jody E. Kreiman — professor of head and neck surgery and of linguistics; chair, UCLA Academic Senate
  • Marilyn N. Raphael — professor of geography; director, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability
  • Vivek Shetty — professor of dentistry and bioengineering
  • Elizabeth H. Simmons — executive vice chancellor and distinguished professor of physics, UCSD
  • Shannon Speed — professor of gender studies and anthropology; director, American Indian Studies Center
  • David K. Yoo — vice provost, Institute of American Cultures; professor of Asian American studies and history; member, Chancellor’s Council on the Arts

In addition, the executive search firm SP&A — represented by search consultants Alberto Pimentel, Will Gates and Sal Venegas Jr. — has been retained to support this important effort.

In preparation for the search, committee members and consultants welcome input from the campus community on critical opportunities, challenges and priorities for the next EVCP, as well as ideal qualities and qualifications for the position. To provide confidential input and/or to nominate any individuals you feel are well qualified for the EVCP role, please write to EVCPSearch@conet.ucla.edu. The search committee and consultants will also hold hearing sessions later this winter. Information gleaned through these channels will inform and guide recruitment efforts.

To keep the UCLA community informed and engaged, we have created an EVCP search website where the position announcement (PDF), search committee membership, process information and updates will be posted.

My hope is that the search committee will be able to review a diverse slate of qualified candidates during the winter and spring quarters, and that finalists will participate in campus interviews toward the end of the academic year. Our aim is for our next EVCP to be in place in the fall.

In closing, I wish to again offer my thanks to outgoing EVCP Emily Carter as well as to Interim EVCP Mike Levine, who will serve in the role until an appointment is made. Please join me in extending gratitude to them for their service, and thank you all for your engagement in this crucial leadership search.

Sincerely,

  • Gene D. BlockChancellor