Arts and Architecture dean becomes No. 2 man

BRIDGET O’BRIEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff DANIEL
NEUMAN

Current position: Dean of the School of Arts
and Architecture since 1996
Other positions held: Professor of ethnomusicology
at UCLA;
Director, University of Washington School of Music
Education: University of Illinois, B.A. and Ph.D.
in anthropology
Interests: Specialized in musical traditions of
India; Proficient with the sarangi, an Indian bowed instrument;
Loves good coffee and coffee house discussions

By Kelly Rayburn
DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF
[email protected]

Hello, Neuuuuman ““ UCLA has found its future number two
man.

Chancellor Albert Carnesale announced Daniel Neuman, the dean of
UCLA’s School of Arts and Architecture, as the
university’s next executive vice chancellor Tuesday.

As EVC, Neuman will serve as UCLA’s chief operating
officer and will act as chancellor in Carnesale’s absence. He
will play a key role in defining budgetary and development
priorities, a job that is especially important given a
multi-billion dollar state budget shortfall and the expected influx
of 4,000 students to UCLA in the next 10 years.

Current EVC Rory Hume announced in January he is leaving UCLA
for Australia, where he will serve as president and vice chancellor
at the University of New South Wales next year.

Neuman’s appointment is effective July 1, pending approval
from the UC Regents.

“I’m extremely delighted and honored and ““ to
use a word I rarely use ““ thrilled … it’s an
occasion of joy,” Neuman said, taking a break from a small
celebration in his office.

Upon announcing the appointment, Carnesale said he is
“extremely excited to work even more closely with Dean
Neuman.”

Neuman will not take office in optimal times. Addressing tough
allocation decisions in tight budgetary times will be his most
pressing short-term task, he said.

Though he felt it would be premature to outline specific budget
priorities right now, Neuman said he would be able to articulate a
more concrete series of priorities in September or October, after a
few months on the job.

Establishing a longer-term goal, Neuman would like to see UCLA
more intimately “engage in and embrace” the metropolis
around it, working with the rest of Los Angeles to address the
arts, social problems and medicine.

Neuman also expressed interest in continuing Hume’s
efforts to make UCLA a center of technological development.

Under Hume’s watch, the university established California
NanoSystems Institute, a joint effort between UCLA and UC Santa
Barbara to apply the nanometer scale structure to biomedical
research and manufacturing.

Neuman called such technology both fascinating and
important.

“I’ve been nicknamed the techno-dean,” he
said.

Neuman’s deep affection for UCLA is one reason he looks
forward to being the school’s second-in-command ““ and a
love for a huge institution is something new for someone coming
from a time when people distrusted them, he said.

“I’m from the ’60s. I’m one of those
people,” he explained.

The appointment of the EVC is only one of a number of key
administrative and faculty changes the university is enduring.

Currently, the positions of vice chancellor of Student Affairs,
dean of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering ““ and now the
dean of the School of Arts and Architecture ““ are vacated.
Additionally, two associate vice chancellors were appointed last
week to address diversity and community partnerships.

With so many appointments taking place or about to take place,
the university has opportunities to go in completely new
directions. Neuman again said he did not want to make premature
determinations about decisions he would make as EVC, but he did say
he looked forward to getting to know the people he will be working
with and re-thinking the creative aspects of the job.

The transition will be difficult at times, he said. Though he
looks forward to working with Carnesale and the other vice
chancellors, Neuman said it would take time for his future
co-workers to learn his “habits, customs, idiosyncrasies,
orientations, biases and interests.”

Having earned both bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in
anthropology at the University of Illinois, the musicology
professor has conducted extensive field work in India over the last
three decades. He is proficient in playing the sarangi, an Indian
bowed instrument.

In addition, Neuman has played the violin, takes interest in
maps and mapmaking, does film-editing and Web page publishing and
loves good coffee and coffee-house discussions.

He would love to see UCLA be a more public, community-enhancing
space where students and faculty sit and challenge each
other’s assumptions.

Promoting this type of “classical” academy comes
second in many people’s minds to providing adequate classroom
and office space.

But public spaces for public discussions ““ like coffee
houses ““ should not be considered a “luxurious
after-thought,” he said.

Neuman acknowledged that such a vague goal may be out of his
capacity as EVC.

“Maybe I’ll push for more coffee shops more than the
other vice chancellors,” he quipped. “The joke is
always about “˜Neuman’s coffee houses.'”