Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost (2021)

Ben Hermalin is UC Berkeley’s new executive vice chancellor and provost

The University of California, Berkeley seeks a visionary, collaborative, and innovative leader with a deep commitment to the values of public education and the tenets of shared governance to serve as its next executive vice chancellor and provost (EVCP). The next EVCP will join the campus community at a transformational moment for Berkeley and higher education.

UC Berkeley is internationally renowned for excellence across all disciplines, for the opportunities it affords students of all backgrounds, and for scientific discovery, innovation, and cultural creativity. Ranked nationally as the No. 1 public and fourth-best university overall by QS World University Rankings' 2021 listing of top American universities, theBerkeley campus is home to more than 31,000 undergraduates and more than 11,000 graduate students, and approximately 1,500 ladder-rank faculty across 14 schools and colleges. Berkeley’s professors are highly distinguished researchers, scholars, and leading experts in their fields, as attested by their many Nobel Prizes, other distinguished awards, and memberships in the most prestigious learned societies.

As chief academic officer and chief operating officer of the Berkeley campus, the EVCP has leadership responsibility for the planning, development, implementation, assessment, and improvement of all academic programs, policies, and supporting infrastructure. The EVCP has responsibility for ensuring Berkeley’s academic preeminence through faculty recruitment and retention as well as through rigorous review of key faculty personnel actions. The EVCP also has oversight for the planning, quality, and delivery of education provided to Berkeley’s undergraduate and graduate students. These activities are carried out in consultation and cooperation with theAcademic Senate under Berkeley’s shared governance model and through ongoing interactions with theChancellor’s Cabinet,Council of Deans, graduate and undergraduate student leaders, and other key campus leaders and stakeholders.

The EVCP is responsible for the oversight of the campus’s 14 schools and colleges and has ultimate responsibility for the academic enterprise with an annual operating budget of $2 billion. Working in close partnership with the Chancellor and both campus and system-wide leadership, the EVCP serves as the chief academic officer for the campus and represents the institution on academic issues with internal and external constituents. The EVCP provides leadership on strategic, administrative, and operational issues, including management of the campus-wide budget and capital finance.

Berkeley's incoming EVCP will be expected to partner with the Chancellor to envision the campus's future, advance academic excellence, forge new intellectual directions, and ensure Berkeley's financial strength and resilience while growing resources and fostering transformational partnerships. The EVCP will support and enable the success of the deans and academic units as well as support and advocate for the needs of its diverse body of students. Underpinning all of this work will be vigorous leadership in advancing an institutional culture of diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice.

UC Berkeley seeks a leader with the intellectual vision, worldview, collegial and collaborative leadership style, strategic and operational leadership, and energy and integrity to inspire others to new levels of excellence. The incoming EVCP will have experience as an academic leader and will have participated in the processes of faculty appointment and promotion with a substantial record of advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion. The successful candidate will understand the distinctive character and mission of a public university and have a proven history of productive and collaborative relationships with various stakeholder groups internal to and external to the university, transparent leadership, and building consensus. Candidates must have an earned doctorate or equivalent terminal degree and the requisite scholarship and teaching experience for an appointment as a tenured full professor at UC Berkeley.

All applications, nominations, and inquiries are invited. Applications should include, as separate documents, a CV or resume, and a letter of interest addressing the themes in the profile which can be found at https://www.wittkieffer.com/position/22430-executive-vice-chancellor-and-provost/. For fullest consideration, candidate materials should be received by August 31, 2021 and submitted using WittKieffer’scandidate portal. Nominations and inquiries can be directed to the WittKieffer consultants supporting this search, Suzanne Teer, Zachary Smith, Ph.D., Veena Abraham, J.D., and Alejandra Gillette-Teran, at BerkeleyEVCP@wittkieffer.com

The University of California, Berkeley, is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer with a strong institutional commitment to the achievement of diversity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age or protected veteran status.

For the complete University of California nondiscrimination and affirmative action policy see:http://policy.ucop.edu/doc/4000376/NondiscrimAffirmAct

Survey

We seek input from the campus community about this critical position. Please submit your input on this online survey. The survey should take approximately 10 minutes. It is a way for the search committee and search consultants to seek input from the Berkeley research community in all areas. Your feedback will be very helpful to the committee as it searches for the next EVCP. Information gathered by early June will be used in drafting the position description, and the survey will be available throughout the search. Please note that your responses will be anonymous.

Timeline

The executive vice chancellor and provost (EVCP) search committee members and search firm were selected in spring 2021. Stakeholder listening sessions took place in May and early June to gather feedback about the skills and qualities that are needed in the next EVCP and about the short- and long-term priorities for this role. Recruitment for the position will occur throughout July and August, and interviews will be conducted in the fall. 

Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Search Committee Roster 2021

Carol Christ, Chancellor (Chair)

Amani Allen, Executive Associate Dean and Professor, School of Public Health

Barbara Bakar, CEO, Barbara and Gerson Bakar Foundation and Gerson Bakar Foundation; Founder and President, Achieve

Dat Le, Executive Assistant Dean, Administration, Engineering

David Ackerly, Dean, Rausser College of Natural Resources

David Schaffer, Director, QB3 - California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences

James Weichert, Undergraduate Student and Head of Staff, ASUC Office of Academic Affairs

Maria Pettis, Graduate Student and Campus Affairs Vice President, Graduate Assembly

Olufemi Ogundele, Associate Vice Chancellor of Enrollment & Dean of Undergraduate Admission

Peter Chernin, CEO, The Chernin Group

Raka Ray, Dean, College of Letters and Science, Division of Social Sciences

Ronald Cohen, Vice Chair, Academic Senate and Professor, Chemistry and Earth and Planetary Science

Rosemarie Rae, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Chief Financial Officer

The committee is being staffed by Andrea Lambert, Chief of Staff to the EVCP, James Kao, Berkeley Executive Search Manager, and Kristine Lee Wilby, Academic Affairs Manager.

The search is being supported by the executive search firm WittKieffer. Comments, inquiries, and nominations can be sent directly to the WittKieffer consultants supporting this search, Suzanne Teer, Zach Smith, Ph.D., Veena Abraham, J.D., and Alejandra Gillette-Teran, at BerkeleyEVCP@wittkieffer.com