UC President Mark G. Yudof began his search for a new UC Davis chancellor by visiting the campus, where he convened an advisory committee and invited representatives of various interest groups to share their thoughts about new campus leadership.

Those meetings were closed to the public, but Yudof briefed the news media the next day on what he heard. During the 25-minute conference call, the new UC president also offered his impressions of UC Davis.

What students are looking for -- "The students ... wanted to make sure that they had a new chancellor with whom they had good access to discuss their issues and their concerns. They seemed to uniformly feel they were getting a first-class undergraduate education, and they wanted to make sure that the new chancellor is committed to that (and) committed to diversity.

"There was some discussion of sustainability, which apparently is a strong current in the student body. They want to make that the new chancellor is committed to a sustainability program and (to) reducing the carbon footprint.

"A lot of it dealt with the diversity issue and ... enhancing efforts to further diversify the campus.

"Retention of faculty ... (the students) don't want to lose their best professors. They understand it's a competitive world out there for the best professors.

"Graduate students were basically in sync with the undergraduates. They have other issues like the stipends for graduate students, which are not where we'd like them to be. ... Some of these people have families and it's a real financial stress for them to get their Ph.D.s.

"The students at all levels were very much into community service and they want that to continue."

Staff comments -- "We had some leaders of staff organizations I thought were absolutely brilliant. In fact, I told them leave their names, I want to hire them and bring them to Oakland. I don't think that went over very well with the UC Davis people.

"But they understand our business systems. There was some criticism, frankly, that the business systems aren't where they should be, (that) there were efficiencies which we could achieve if we could agree and focus on them, and they wanted someone who would be open to moving in that direction."

"There was a sense that every time we have budget cuts, we typically cut back in the staff, and that we were overloading some of the present staff in terms of their job responsibilities. ... That was a major concern of the group.

"You want a leader who doesn't view all the things that staff do on campus as sort of invisible, like it's just magic that the heat goes on and the lights work. Or that there's someone to serve lunch, or there's an electrician or a plumber to take care of a problem, or that person who really keeps the chemistry department humming from an administrative standpoint. ... They don't want to be taken for granted, and they want someone who has that."

Deans and vice chancellors -- According to Yudof, they were more concerned with explaining "the unbelievable scope of the activities of the University of California at Davis, and making sure that we were aware of the great medical center and its operations and all that occurs in the agricultural and extension side, and the facilities issues.

Instead of looking for "a certain profile," Yudof recalled, the deans and vice chancellors said they wanted the search team to focus on finding someone who understands the scope of this job. "And you need to select someone who's up to it."

Community leaders -- "I would say that they agreed with most of what the other constituent groups thought. They felt it was real important to have regional engagement, you know the type of thing that we always think about ... (the) wine industry and other things taking place in that area of the state, but (also) regional engagement generally with business, nonprofits and governmental agencies.

"And there is a real appreciation, and I think this is just flat-out true, that Davis really drives the regional economy. And they want a leader who will be a bridge to the business community and to other groups in making sure that Davis remains an economic engine for that part of the state."

Hiring someone from the inside or the outside -- "Well, you know, it's a very interesting point (and) you can check with the faculty, but at least the presenters who I listened to (from the faculty) felt that it was important to have an outsider, someone not from the campus. Now I don't say that's 100 percent of the faculty, but that's what they said.

"Then we had another group in ... and there was at least one person, one dean, who said, 'This a complicated place and we need someone who understands how we work and I personally would prefer an inside person.'

"There are tradeoffs. ... If you bring someone from the outside, there are fresh eyes. They could be more objective. Maybe there's some things you've been doing forever you shouldn't be doing. On the other hand, there always is a learning curve; I've discovered that in my office. And there's always a chance that you will make mistakes because you really don't understand the culture and how the campus really works."

Yudof's impressions of UC Davis -- The chancellor's search advisory committee meeting brought Yudof to UC Davis for the first time since he became UC president in June.

Among his initial impressions:

-- "I thought there was, really, across the board, (an) unbelievable commitment to this institution."

-- "The depth" of commitment to the land grant mission. "They actually pride themselves on doing more applied research -- and they do basic research, too -- they pride themselves on the impact they've had on agriculture and the wine industry and all the rest. They value community engagement as much or more than any campus I've ever visited. So I think that's a relatively special characteristic."

-- The university's long history of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary graduate research programs -- "before it became fashionable."

-- "And then I was intrigued by this. ... Davis has been very aggressive about involving undergraduates in research opportunities, and to a person the undergraduates who spoke felt that was a very good program and something they got a lot out of."

-- He noted that faculty members are "competitive and egotistical" -- and quickly added that, as a faculty member himself, he too is competitive and egotistical. But, at UC Davis, he said, "it's in a framework of a high level of collaboration and civility." He noted his visits to many campuses across the country, and "unfortunately it's not present on all university campuses."

Davis really has it, he said. "It is really a very decent place to go to work in the morning."

• UC president spells out his vision for new chancellor
• THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
• More about the search for a new chancellor, including a way for you to offer input.