Job Announcement: Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

June 9, 2014

Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) invites inquiries, nominations and applications for the position of Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

Reflecting an understanding of diversity as an institutional resource fundamental to the educational mission of the university, the vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion serves as the senior UCLA official responsible for leading and coordinating the university’s efforts to create a diverse, inclusive and welcoming environment for all students, staff, faculty, alumni and community partners. He/she provides visionary and collaborative institutional leadership, working with the chancellor, executive vice chancellor and provost, Academic Senate and other campus leadership to facilitate an integrated vision and shared responsibility for advancing institutional goals and for fostering and affirming a campus culture based on our core values of excellence, equity, diversity and inclusion.

With ample resources and authority and through key collaborative partnerships, the vice chancellor’s broad areas of focus include high-level coordination of campus-wide diversity initiatives; strategic planning; training, education and research; community relations; policy development; compliance; campus climate issues; communications; and fundraising. The vice chancellor is supported by the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, with supervisory responsibility for the campus discrimination prevention and Title IX officers, and other administrative staff and resources sufficient to ensure that objectives are achieved. He/she has primary responsibility for ensuring compliance with federal affirmative action, equal opportunity and non-discrimination regulations in partnership with campus functional officers, and for developing and implementing the campus’s academic affirmative action plan.

Equally important, the vice chancellor has the primary responsibility for guiding efforts to conceptualize, define, assess, nurture and cultivate diversity as an institutional value and educational resource. In close partnership with the chancellor and the executive vice chancellor and provost, the vice chancellor has wide latitude to shape the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and to develop a strategic plan and set campus priorities for diversity. The vice chancellor leads and supervises ongoing and regular assessments of campus climate, develops systems of accountability for reaching diversity goals and objectives, and coordinates reporting mechanisms to ensure that units are aligned with campus diversity goals. He/she also stewards resources, including full time equivalent (FTE) faculty positions, and works closely with appropriate committees and campus and Academic Senate leadership to advance faculty diversity and equity and to promote an inclusive climate in UCLA’s schools, divisions and departments.

The vice chancellor advises and reports to the chancellor and to the executive vice chancellor and provost on a wide range of diversity issues, and represents the campus to the community and to the University of California Office of the President. He/she leads UCLA’s executive cabinet on equity, diversity and inclusion, convening key campus officials to ensure the coordination of the campus’s diversity efforts and the achievement of institutional goals. He/she serves on the chancellor’s executive committee, the cabinet of vice chancellors, the council of deans, the enrollment steering committee and the Alliance for Equal Opportunity in Education, and as an ex officio member of the Academic Senate Committee on Diversity and Equal Opportunity. He/she chairs the UCLA Council on Diversity and Inclusion, and coordinates and maintains communication with unit-level diversity officers. He/she or a representative serves as the chancellor’s liaison to the UCLA Committee on Disability and the UCLA Committee on LGBTQ Affairs. He/she also serves on the systemwide AA/EO and diversity officers group and on other standing and ad hoc UCLA and systemwide committees that promote equity, diversity and inclusion at UCLA and throughout the University of California system. 

The ideal candidate will be nationally recognized with strong scholarly visibility; substantial administrative and program-building experience; and demonstrated leadership as an innovator, convener, ambassador, collaborator, partner and catalyst in mobilizing leaders from various institutional and community sectors around diversity goals. Candidates must demonstrate sensitivity to a wide range of disciplines, interests and constituencies represented at UCLA and a deep commitment to diversity as part of its public mission; the ability to design bold, creative and innovative initiatives; and the vision, charisma and collaborative acumen to command the respect and involvement of colleagues and community members to improve climate and outcomes. 

Requirements include demonstrated prior leadership in developing diversity and inclusion initiatives and programs within a complex organization; a record of success in facilitating effective partnerships with and between campus and community constituencies; experience leading large-scale change projects; an understanding of affirmative action and equal opportunity regulations; strategic planning experience; proven success in—or aptitude for—external relations, communications and development; and a distinguished record of scholarly achievement and intellectual leadership. Preference will be given to candidates with academic credentials that merit appointment at the rank of full professor. 

Situated on 419 acres, five miles from the Pacific Ocean, UCLA is enriched by the cultural diversity of the dynamic greater Los Angeles area, as well as the geographic advantages of Southern California. One of the world’s preeminent public research universities, UCLA is an international leader in breadth and quality of academic, research, health care, cultural, continuing education and athletic programs, with more than 4,000 faculty members who teach approximately 40,000 students in the College of Letters and Science and 11 professional schools. UCLA is consistently ranked among the top institutions nationally for research funding, having generated an average of $1 billion in research grants and contracts annually over the past four years. 

Confidential review of applications, nominations and expressions of interest will begin immediately and will continue until an appointment is made. To be ensured full consideration, please email a letter of interest and curriculum vitae to UCLA’s Witt/Kieffer consultants Oliver B. Tomlin and Mary Elizabeth Taylor at UCLAVCEDI@wittkieffer.com by September 29, 2014

The University of California is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer committed to
excellence through diversity, and seeks candidates committed to a campus climate that supports equity and inclusion.