Executive vice chancellor: more than a fancy title

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By Robert Salonga
Daily Bruin Staff

Many Bruins don’t realize what is changing when Wyatt Rory
Hume leaves his post as executive vice chancellor of UCLA, a
position with hidden but important effects on daily campus
activities.

Second in rank to the chancellor, Hume is the university’s
chief operating officer as well as the chief academic. This July,
he will become president and vice chancellor of the University of
New South Wales in Australia.

As EVC, Hume deals behind the scenes with budget allocations,
academic planning and unexpected situations that can occur on any
given day.

“I have to be reactive to immediate circumstances, such as
disputes between parties,” Hume said.

Many of Hume’s predecessors echoed this sentiment,
emphasizing the need to coordinate efforts by all the different
heads of the campus.

“All of the heavy lifting was done by the deans and
provosts, since they deal directly with faculty,” said
Charles Kennel, who served as EVC from 1996-98. “My job was
to see that they all fit together.”

Andrea Rich, EVC from 1991-96, described the role as
“pulling all of the threads of university programs together
(to) make it work on an academic and operational level.”

A large part of making things work, Kennel said, is allocating
resources and money among the school’s various
departments.

On a more personal level, Hume meets one-on-one with the
university’s deans and vice chancellors to hear their
suggestions and offer them advice.

“It is an important contact point,” Hume said.
“Without the EVC, communications between all the elements of
campus would be much more difficult.”

Traditionally, the EVC has headed efforts that significantly
changed the direction of UCLA and that continue to be felt
today.

Rich served during the reorganization of the university’s
arts program, when the former College of Fine Arts was split into
two professional schools ““ the School of Theater, Film and
Television and the School of the Arts (now called the School of the
Arts and Architecture). This restructuring was conducted to improve
program quality and to bring greater professional focus to arts
education.

Also under Rich, UCLA reached out further into Westwood,
assuming control of the Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural
Center and purchasing the Geffen Playhouse to increase the
university’s cultural influence on its surrounding
community.

During his tenure, Kennel chaired a UC-wide committee to create
the California Digital Library, a joint effort by all nine UC
campuses to build, preserve and share collections of various
digital content.

Continuing this trend of advance, Hume’s time at UCLA has
also seen the university take additional strides in technology. The
university recently established the California NanoSystems
Institute, a joint effort between UCLA and UC Santa Barbara to
apply the nanometer scale structure to biomedical research and
manufacturing.

Hume has also set in motion plans for UCLA to accommodate Tidal
Wave II, the influx of 60,000 students into the UC system over the
next 10 years.

“I’m pleased with the way we’ve planned for
enrollment growth over the next decade, determining where students
should be placed and faculty should be hired,” he said.

Upon leaving UCLA, leading institutions of personal significance
seems to be an indelible mark of the EVC.

David Saxon, EVC from 1968-75, went on to become UC president
and is the namesake for the on-campus residence, Saxon Suites.

Kennel is now director of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography
at UC San Diego, and Rich serves as president and chief executive
officer at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Hume’s decision to take the University of New South Wales
position derives from what he calls a debt to his home country of
Australia.

“I have a strong sense of obligation to the country that
educated me without cost to me or my parents all the way to my
Ph.D.,” Hume said. “This is an opportunity to pay some
of that back.”

Kennel said the EVC position gave him the confidence to take the
Scripps position, so that he could pursue his interests in the
sciences. He came to UCLA as a physics professor in 1967 and headed
the NASA project ““ Mission to Planet Earth in 1994 ““
before becoming EVC.

“The net result is that when you’re finished, you
have a broad point of view and a great deal of confidence in
managing complex institutions,” he said.

Rich spent nearly 35 years as a student, professor and
administrator at UCLA ““ her entire professional career
““ before heading LACMA. Receiving her Bachelor’s,
Master’s and Ph.D. degrees as a Bruin, Rich worked in the
Chancellor’s Office for 10 years, served as acting dean of
the School of Theater, Film and Television and also served as vice
chancellor for academic administration.

“My whole life was spent there,” Rich said.
“There comes a certain point in age and life to run an
institution yourself.”

All three offered suggestions to whomever fills Hume’s
shoes.

“It’s such a big job that the most important thing
to do is to listen to people who know more than you do about their
subject,” Kennel said.

Rich stressed the willingness to work long hours and to consult
and having “a thick skin to take the criticism that will
invariably come no matter what you do.”

Hume said the position requires patience, the ability to stay
calm under trying circumstances, and a good understanding of the
business aspects of higher education.

For instance, when someone proposes to donate an asset to
campus, Hume must determine its relevance to the university.

“I have to figure out what resources will be needed to
support it, and how it will fit with our academic programs,”
he said.

The job entails hours of planning, myriad responsibilities and
little or no acknowledgement from the general university community.
But despite all this, Kennel said, there is nothing quite like
being UCLA’s executive vice chancellor.