UCI No. 2 Job Choice Irks Some : Administration: An Anglo has been recommended for executive vice chancellor, raising concern about commitment to increasing women and minority students and faculty.

A UC Irvine dean’s nomination to be the university’s No. 2 administrator has raised fears among some on campus that it signals a shift away from a strong commitment to raising the number of women and minority faculty and students.

UCI Chancellor Jack W. Peltason has recommended that L. Dennis Smith, UCI’s dean of biological sciences since 1987, be named executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, a spokeswoman for Peltason confirmed Tuesday.

The UC Board of Regents holds the actual hiring authority and it is scheduled to consider the chancellor’s recommendation during a special closed session Friday at UC San Diego.

Smith, a 52-year-old Anglo, would replace Chang-Lin Tien, the highest ranking minority member at UCI, who has been widely praised for backing efforts to recruit, hire and keep minorities and women on campus. Tien becomes chancellor at UC Berkeley on July 1.

“Given that most of the administrators and deans here are white males, to replace an Asian administrator with another white male is symbolic,” said one woman faculty member who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals. “It sends a message that they (the university’s search committee) were in such a hurry they couldn’t find (qualified minority candidates).”

Others say Smith has a record of supporting and fostering affirmative action programs in biological sciences, where there is a nationwide shortage of women and under-represented minorities such as blacks and Latinos.

Eloy Rodriguez, a professor of cell biology at UCI, said Smith joined him in seeking a $1.2-million, five-year grant from the Hughes Foundation that is expected to bring 100 minority students a year into UCI’s biological sciences program. “Dennis understands the importance of this, and he seems to be highly committed and supportive of (affirmative action efforts),” he said.

Manuel N. Gomez, an assistant vice chancellor who oversees UCI’s efforts to attract women and minority students, predicted that Smith would “continue the powerful momentum” to increase diversity started by Peltason and Tien.

Neither Peltason nor Smith returned telephone calls Tuesday.

The names of three white men and one black woman were among the four finalists whose names were forwarded to Peltason last month, according to sources close to the 20-member search committee.

While all four finalists were rated extremely qualified, several campus sources said there was a deep division among the 20-member search committee. Several women and minority members reportedly favored UCLA Vice Chancellor Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, the only woman and minority among the finalists.

Mitchell-Kernan, an anthropology professor who last year was named UCLA’s vice chancellor for graduate programs, declined comment Tuesday.

The other finalists were: David J. Ramsay, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs at UC San Francisco, and Paul S. Sypherd, UCI’s vice chancellor for research and graduate studies. Ramsay and Sypherd were both unavailable for comment.

Smith came to UCI after seven years in Indiana as head of Purdue University’s department of biological sciences. He has a bachelor’s degree in zoology and chemistry and a Ph.D. in experimental embryology, both from Indiana University. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences’ committees on space science and space biology and medicine.

At Purdue, Smith had a track record of being “fairly decent and sensitive” to black faculty and students, according to a prominent black official at UCI. But he and women faculty said Smith has been criticized for hiring too few minorities and women at UCI.

Gomez, however, noted that this year alone two black professors are joining the biological sciences department under a special affirmative action program.

Even critics say that much of the concern stems less from Smith’s track record than the symbol of having another white male in UCI’s second most powerful position, one that sets academic policy as well as makes the all important hiring and recruitment decisions. With few exceptions, the top ranking administrators are white males at UCI, which last fall became the first UC campus to have a freshman class composed of more than 50% minority students.

“The women and minorities on campus had hoped we would have an executive vice chancellor who would symbolize the more diverse academic community we are trying to develop at UCI,” said one faculty member. “The real concern . . . is about a lack of commitment.”

Times staff writer Lanie Jones contributed to this story.