Three of the 4 candidates for the Vice Provost – Statewide Programs/Strategic Initiatives interviewed today. I missed the fourth candidate's presentation and interview yesterday. But like many of you, I plan to watch it before comments are due. Fortunately the links to all 4 presentations are already out (thanks Kim Ingram!) so I plan to catch that last presentation in between flights late tonight. One thing that came through in the presentations is a desire to better understand the position. Given that the position was first posted before I had arrived at UC ANR, I've had to do some catching up myself. Over the last 8 months I have gained considerable clarity for the intent of the position.
UC ANR is fortunate to have high performing, motivated, and creative statewide program and institute directors. This Vice Provost is needed to support these leaders as they build their programs and take the programs in new directions to the benefit of stakeholders and clientele across UC. The Vice Provost is a resource and creative partner as well as someone to challenge the directors as part of the continuous improvement continuum for all of UC ANR. The Vice Provost is a champion for the programs but also one who looks to the future and helps steer the programs in directions necessary to reach the division's vision. While it is also true that the Vice Provost will be the supervisor for some of the statewide program leaders, given the talent of the directors the greater emphasis will be on helping the directors find time and resources for all of their ideas, including facilitating connections between and among statewide programs, the strategic initiatives and external partners.
The 2025 Vision is what guides our programs; it's the ‘what we do' in very broad terms. And while the new strategic plan is the ‘how we do it' or operational side of things, the two are very much connected. This is most evident to me in that the strategic plan includes evaluation of ‘what we do' (goal 5) as part of ‘how we do things' (i.e. the strategic plan itself).
I've also been thinking for the last several months about the connectivity between strategic initiatives, statewide programs and institutes, program teams and work groups. I will share my thoughts in the near future. For now, it's time to get ready to board (assuming the rain doesn't delay my flight like it seems to have done for everything heading to SoCal).
Enjoy the long weekend!