I am pleased to announce the results of the second phase of our High Impact Hiring Plan (HIHP), which leverages our resources to recruit prominent and influential faculty leaders whose scholarly, scientific, and creative accomplishments and career trajectories promise to accelerate our ascendency among the ranks of globally preeminent research universities.

The twelve complete proposals submitted in January were fully vetted by the Academic Planning Group, the deans, and the ADVANCE Program Advising Committee. Ratings and extended deliberations about the highest-ranked proposals produced detailed recommendations that were extremely helpful in my final selection of two proposals for funding at this time.

Field Hydrology - a diverse team of faculty who will take full advantage of the many unique advantages in the region to (1) build on current strengths and fill significant gaps in the interdisciplinary mix of water expertise on campus, (2) increase the utilization of UC Irvine field assets for water research and educational programs, and (3) increase the pipeline of Under-Represented Minorities and the depth of their preparation for STEM graduate programs.

Critical Theory - a team of world-renowned scholars who address the disparate modes of multicultural and multiethnic societies will (1) re-secure the University's top-ranked position in the field, identifying UC Irvine as the world's leader in defining the scope and practice of critical theory in the 21st Century; (2) have a positive impact on campus diversity; and (3) substantially enhance the quality of graduate education in the humanities and social sciences.

I will begin work immediately with the authors of these proposals and the pertinent deans to develop a recruitment plan for the principal appointments and refine plans for the attendant clusters. The scope and process of implementing the proposals will vary among these projects, but they will all conform to our campus wide standards of excellence and inclusion, as well as our usual search policies and practices.

The proposals received in this process were inspiring and creative, and I want to thank everyone for the time, effort, and thought that went into preparing and reviewing them. I look forward to seeing what comes of the next round of proposals later this spring.

Michael P. Clark
Interim Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor