Update on director of athletics recruitment: Deadline for input extended

10.24.11

Dear UC Davis Campus Community:

As many of you might have read recently in Friday Update, Dateline UC Davis, the California Aggie, or on the campus home page, earlier this month our campus launched the recruitment of a new director of athletics and invited the campus community to engage in this important process.

I am writing to you today to again seek your input and encourage you to become a part of this process. In the past two years, our campus has recruited a number of key leadership positions. Through an open and participatory process, we have been able to identify and hire the best leaders to carry forward the campus's vision of excellence. The position of director of athletics is no different than that of other campus leadership positions. As such, we are committed to following the same open, transparent and participatory approach.

Our selection of the new director, along with the broader discussions of the direction of our athletics program, will help define the overall reputation of UC Davis as a world-class public research university. Your voice is essential to and will have a critical impact on the selection we ultimately make.

In preparation for this recruitment, our campus commissioned a thorough review of our athletics program. This report has been public for a couple of weeks now and is available, along with additional information regarding the director of athletics recruitment process, at http://chancellor.ucdavis.edu/initiatives/athletics_director/index.html . It is important to understand that this comprehensive review offers alternatives and options, but does not propose a specific roadmap for UC Davis. Ultimately, whatever decision we make will be based on input from our campus community and the values and goals of our institution as a land grant university. Our mission is clear -- to provide access to excellence in all that we do in our classrooms, our research, our public service, and also our athletics.

We have already heard from many of you who have read the report online, attended the first town hall meeting on this matter, and sent your comments and recommendations to athletics@ucdavis.edu . We want to hear from as many of you as possible and to offer everyone in our campus community sufficient time to consider this important matter and comment. To this end, we would like to make you aware of the following:

• The deadline for comment has been extended to Wednesday, November 30, 2011.
• The second town hall meeting organized by the recruitment committee is scheduled for this Wednesday, October 26, 5:00-6:30 p.m., at the UC Davis Conference Center, Ballrooms A and B.
• ASUCD will sponsor a student focused forum on Wednesday, November 2, from 7:00-9:00 p.m., at the ARC, Ballroom A.
• Vice Chancellor Fred Wood, who is chairing the recruitment advisory committee, has scheduled a fourth town hall meeting for Wednesday, November 16, from 6:00-7:30 p.m., at the ARC, Ballrooms A and B. All town hall meetings are open to all members of the UC Davis community.

As I wrote in my October 5 letter to the Recruitment Advisory Committee, I am committed to UC Davis remaining and thriving in Division I athletics. Like all our academic and administrative programs and units, our 23 Division I teams and more than 600 student-athletes should have the opportunity to reach their maximum potential as they aspire to excellence in the classroom and on the playing field.

As we consider the future of Division I athletics in the context of the future of UC Davis, we face a number of critical questions:  What will the future for UC Davis intercollegiate athletics look like? How will we define excellence in our athletics program for both the near and longer term? What are the desired qualifications and experiences of our next director of athletics? As all of us play a role in answering these questions, let us work together to shape a compelling and bold vision of academic and athletic excellence for UC Davis.

Best,

Linda P.B. Katehi
Chancellor, UC Davis