Another Top Official Resigns Her UCI Post : Education: Kathleen T. Jones, in charge of university advancement, follows on the heels of M. Anne Spence. No women vice chancellors are left.
Kathleen T. Jones, the first woman to be appointed a vice chancellor at UC Irvine, announced Wednesday that she is resigning, becoming the second top-level administrator in a week to step down.
Jones, 52, in charge of university advancement, said she will leave UCI July 1 to become vice president of alumni and university relations at Georgetown University in Washington. Jones has worked at UCI since 1968, officials said.
“She’s meant a great deal to UCI,” Chancellor Laurel L. Wilkening said in an interview. “She built her career here. She has roots deep in Orange County.”
On Friday, Vice Chancellor of Academic Programs M. Anne Spence told officials she would leave her post to return to her research as a human geneticist at UCI’s College of Medicine. Jones’ resignation added another name to a growing list of administrators who have recently left UCI.
Jones’ new job at Georgetown will be on the same executive level as her position at UCI. Jones is responsible for communications and fund-raising efforts, UCI spokeswoman Karen Newell Young said. Fund-raising increased 12% since she took office in 1991, Young added.
Jones said the position at Georgetown is “a step up” because Georgetown is a private university with substantial endowments, a long tradition and strong opportunities to run fund-raising campaigns.
She will become one of Georgetown’s 11 executive officers, called “the Cabinet,” Georgetown spokeswoman Sandra Hvidsten said.
Her resignation means there will be no female vice chancellors left at UCI.
“That for me is a very sad note,” Wilkening said. “I have now lost my two women vice chancellors, and I strongly believe in having a diversity of backgrounds and experiences in administration so we get varied perspectives.”
Wilkening said committees searching for replacement vice chancellors will look for “the best person” but will also take diversity into account.
James Asp, associate vice chancellor under Jones, will become acting vice chancellor of university advancement in her place, officials said.
University officials were quick to point out that the resignations of Spence and Jones were unrelated.
“I think, in a way, it’s an unfortunate coincidence,” Jones said.
Jones added that she did not seek out the Georgetown job; Georgetown President Leo J. O’Donovan called her about the opening.
Wilkening said that in Spence’s case, Spence decided “maybe she’d be better off doing something she enjoyed--genetics research,” instead of handling a sometimes uncomfortable job as an administrator.
Budget-cutting proposals made in two recent university task force reports suggested that Spence’s position should be abolished, as well as two other vice chancellor posts. The prospect of that was one factor in her decision to return full time to the College of Medicine, UCI officials said. They announced Tuesday that the position of vice chancellor of academic programs will be eliminated.
One of the task forces also recommended that responsibilities handled by Jones be combined with those of the vice chancellor for research.
Wilkening said that the job of university advancement is too important to eliminate. Decisions on whether to combine the two positions will not be made until June.
Jones said the two posts require different skills: heading research requires knowledge of federal regulations governing research projects, for example, and heading advancement means meeting and recruiting people from the community to help sponsor UCI.
“I think, no, they shouldn’t be combined,” she said.
The recent administrative flight has created open slots in top management that may stay vacant until decisions on budget cuts are made.
“There will be a little lag time . . . and it’ll give an opportunity to Laurel (Wilkening) to set up a team that works well together,” said UC Regent Meredith Khachigian.
Wilkening and others downplayed the loss of administrators, terming it “a time of change” and an opportunity to look at streamlining UCI and making it more efficient.
Jones, who was born in San Francisco and grew up in Southern California, called the move East “a cultural adventure.”
“My husband and I have lived in California all our lives,” said Jones, a Laguna Beach resident.
A graduate of Stanford University, Jones became director of public relations at UCI in 1981 and worked her way up to become an assistant vice chancellor in 1984 and an associate vice chancellor in 1987. She has also served as a trustee of the Laguna Beach Unified School District.
Khachigian said Jones will be sorely missed at UCI. “Being somewhat laid-back yet totally professional is a winning combination for her position,” she said.
The List Grows
These UC Irvine administrators have stepped down since November:
Kathleen T. Jones
* Position: Vice chancellor for university advancement
* Action: Resigned, effective July 1
M. Anne Spence
* Position: Vice chancellor of academic programs
* Action: Resigned, effective May 1
William A. Sirignano
* Position: Dean of the School of Engineering
* Action: Removal from position announced in March; effective Sept. 1
Dr. Walter L. Henry
* Position: Vice chancellor of health sciences and dean of the College of Medicine
* Action: Resigned December, 1993
L. Dennis Smith
* Position: Executive vice chancellor
* Action: Announced departure in November, 1993
Sources: UCI; Times reports; Researched by ALICIA DI RADO / Los Angeles Times
