Local News in Brief : Irvine : UCI Trying to Lure Wisconsin Educator

UC Irvine on Thursday confirmed that it is trying to hire a University of Wisconsin educator as UCI’s new dean of fine arts.

UCI acting Executive Vice Chancellor William Parker said the university has offered the position to Robert Hickok, who has been dean of fine arts at the Milwaukee campus of the University of Wisconsin for three years.

“We’ve made an offer, and it’s being seriously considered,” Parker said. “But we have no announcement today. Right now the ball is in his (Hickok’s) court.”

Hickok, contacted by phone at his home in Milwaukee, dodged questions Thursday about whether he plans to accept the offer.

“Any announcement will have to come from the University of California at Irvine,” he said.

Hickok said he had visited the UCI campus in recent months, adding, “I think it’s a fine university.”

A native of Texas, Hickok, 61, is a graduate of the Yale University School of Music. He taught for 25 years at Brooklyn College, a division of City University of New York, then was dean of the school music at the North Carolina School of the Arts in 1979-85. He has been at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee since 1985.

Hickok was among four candidates recommended by a search committee, Parker said.