Vice Chancellor at UCI Selected for Nebraska Job

UC Irvine’s second highest official, Executive Vice Chancellor L. Dennis Smith, is Nebraska bound.

Regents of the University of Nebraska on Sunday unanimously elected Smith, 55, president of the 52,000-student system. He takes office March 1.

“The regents said there were four outstanding finalists, but they made it clear that Dr. Smith is the best fit,” said Joe Rowson, director of public affairs for the University of Nebraska.

Smith had served as acting chancellor of UCI for nine months ending in July of this year, but the University of California Board of Regents passed him over for the top spot in Irvine. During his three years as executive vice chancellor, he was widely credited with skillful handling of major budget cutbacks at the 16,750-student campus.

The eight Nebraska regents, however, needed only 10 minutes to choose Smith during a special meeting Sunday afternoon on the main university campus in Lincoln. The regents had interviewed Smith and three other finalists last week.

The other candidates were Constantine Curris, president of the University of Northern Iowa; Gregory O’Brien, chancellor of the University of New Orleans, and Warren Baker, president of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

The University of Nebraska system includes campuses at Lincoln, Omaha and Kearney, as well as the University of Nebraska Medical Center, with facilities in Omaha, Lincoln, Kearney and Scottsbluff. The system has 14,000 employees, including 4,000 teaching faculty members.

Smith, a developmental biologist, was at his home in Irvine on Sunday when he learned of his selection in a phone call.

“I’m delighted; I’m looking forward to it,” Smith said. “Nebraska is an outstanding university and I think this is going to be a tremendous opportunity and challenge.”

Smith will succeed Martin A. Massengale. Smith’s annual salary will be $165,000 and he and his wife, Suzanne, will live in the university-provided official residence in Lincoln.

UCI Chancellor Laurel L. Wilkening on Sunday expressed pleasure that Smith had been selected but said she regretted his leaving UCI.

“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for him,” Wilkening said. “He demonstrated when he was acting chancellor that he can handle an institution very well. I knew sooner or later that some institution would be taking him away from us, but I hoped it would be later.”

Wilkening described Smith as “thoughtful, well-organized and intelligent--a no-nonsense manager,” adding that he has won wide respect on the Irvine campus for handling the difficult budget-cutting responsibilities.

Smith’s tenure as executive vice chancellor, UCI’s chief budget officer, began in 1990 and coincided with severe fiscal restraints imposed on the UC system by the state Legislature.

“It’s a tough job to be in,” Wilkening said.

Smith, in a separate interview, said the UCI team was the key to successful handling of the fiscal crises of the past three years. “It takes a spirit of cooperation; it takes teamwork that involves lots of people,” he said.

Smith served as acting chancellor of UCI from October, 1992, when Jack W. Peltason left to become president of the UC system, until July 1, when Wilkening took over. Smith was among the candidates for the chancellor position, but the UC regents, after a national search, chose Wilkening, who was then provost at the University of Washington.

During Smith’s tenure as acting chancellor, Asian-American students held several protests and demonstrations. They charged that UCI was slow in establishing an Asian-American studies program.

On Sunday, Smith said UCI was already working to establish an Asian-American studies program when the protests erupted.

“We were authorized to recruit four faculty positions for the program, and we were having trouble filling those positions,” he said. “The reason was that the size of the candidate pool was extremely small.”

The UCI Asian-American studies program currently “is moving forward,” he said, adding that the school has “recruited two new people, but we’re still seeking a director.”

Smith was born in Muncie, Ind., and grew up in Frankfort, Ind. He received his bachelor’s degree in zoology from Indiana University in 1959. He then earned his doctorate there in experimental embryology in 1964.

From 1964-69, he was a research scientist at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. He joined the faculty of Purdue University in Indiana in 1969 and stayed there until 1987, when he came to UCI as dean of the School of Biological Sciences. In September, 1990, he was appointed UCI’s executive vice chancellor.

L. Dennis and Suzanne Smith have two children, Lauren Kaye Smith, 30, of Oakland, and Raymond Bradley Smith, 28, of Columbus, Ohio.

Noting his Indiana heritage, Smith said his new job will take him back to his roots.

“I’m a Midwest boy going back to the Midwest,” he said.