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When search committees set out to find a new leader for their university, they often have nonspecific qualities in mind, such as a strong academic background and leadership skills.

In recent years, other common threads in hiring university chancellors and presidents have emerged, both within the University of California and nationally.

Though higher-education experts agree that the academic field in which a potential candidate specializes does not play a major role in the selection process, all 10 current UC chancellors have some background in science-related fields.

With two degrees in mechanical engineering and a doctorate in nuclear engineering, UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale is a prime example.

But Alberto Pimentel, vice president of A.T. Kearney Executive Search, Education Practice – the search firm hired to recruit qualified candidates to replace Carnesale – said his firm doesn’t pick candidates based solely on their discipline or field.

C. Judson King, former UC provost and vice president, and current director of the Center for Studies in Higher Education at UC Berkeley, also said that recruiting science-based leaders is not a specific goal of the UC.

But having a strong foundation in the sciences can be an advantage when leading large research-based institutions like UCLA, King said.

“It may mark the fact that many of the issues universities face at the highest level are one way or another related to science,” King said, referring to the fact that the construction of many new buildings is focused on scientific facilities.

King added that if the chancellor of similar-tier institutions is not a scientist, other individuals who work closely with the chancellor are.

“It is desirable to have someone at the top of administration to know science well,” he said.

The avenues in which to find a potential candidate have expanded in the past years as well.

Traditionally, individuals who have been deans, provosts and chancellors at other universities are the primary candidates in these types of searches.

However, as King explained, “new dimensions are on the scene.”

“There is some tendency for public universities to go to people with backgrounds in state politics,” he said, adding that powerful businesspeople have also been candidates for some universities.

But King emphasized that the most traditional and most likely pool of candidates for the UC are people from academic backgrounds.

Duncan Luce, a research professor of cognitive science at UC Irvine who served on the selection committee when Carnesale was hired, hopes that the trend of selecting people outside academia doesn’t reach the UC.

“I don’t think a business executive will make a good chancellor,” he said. “(Universities) don’t operate like businesses – they aren’t profit organizations. There are different values between the business world and the academic world.”

Another apparent trend in the past several years has been the increased number of female candidates for high-powered positions such as chancellor, Luce and Pimentel said. Though UCLA has yet to have a female chancellor, four out of the 10 UC campuses currently do.

“(We) tend to see more women being seriously considered in high positions today – it’s been a gradual change,” Luce said.

As the search for UCLA’s next chancellor heads into its second month, the 17-member selection committee plans on forwarding a finalized recommendation to the regents sometime in March.