UCSB
The next few months could make or break UC Santa Barbara’s new Economic Forecast Project. Currently operating with a skeleton crew, UCSB officials had hoped to hire a new executive director by early September. But now it looks like a rocky startup process might be in store for the project.
When economic forecasting guru Bill Watkins left for California Lutheran University’s business school, UCSB officials started sniffing around for a new top dog. With banks in merger mode and Wall Street firms facing the biggest cutbacks in decades, they expected the resumes to pour in. To date, UCSB Vice Chancellor John Wiemann, who oversees the program, has received only about a dozen applications for the vacant position.
“All you need is one, if it’s the right one,” he said. “We have several good choices here, and we’ll be interviewing them soon – hopefully very soon. This search has taken a little longer than expected. We wanted to have someone in place by September, but that’s unlikely.”
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