Hiring and Firing Bytes

• The University of Cincinnati has picked Gregory H. Williams, president of the City College of New York, as its next chief, The New York Times reports.

• Thompson Rivers University, in British Columbia, has booted its president, Kathleen Scherf, who during her one-year tenure was known for calling people “dude” and streaking her hair, The Ticker reports.

• A growing number of faculty members at the University of California are backing a planned systemwide walkout on September 24 to protest the university’s handling of the budget crisis, The Ticker reports. Per the San Francisco Chronicle, “What began in recent weeks as a proposed faculty walkout coinciding with the first day of school next Thursday at some campuses — including UCSF, UC Davis, and UC Santa Cruz — has grown to include graduate and undergraduate student groups, and labor unions representing thousands of employees.”

• According to The Daily Princetonian, 145 Princeton employees — or about one third of those eligible — have opted to accept the early-retirement package that the university began offering last spring.

• Portland State University plans to eliminate 68 positions — through layoffs and leaving open positions unfilled — as part of an effort to pare its budget by $25-million, The Daily Vanguard reports. While the bulk of the layoffs (37) will be on the administrative side, an estimated 15 pink slips may go to part-time and full-time faculty members, the student newspaper reports.