Nicole Polanco, 21, had mapped out her future while growing up poor in New York City: graduate from Stony Brook University and eventually become a certified public accountant.

Polanco’s odds of reaching her goal are very good: Her college is one of a handful nationally with an especially strong track record of launching students out of poverty and into wealth. But shrinking higher education budgets and skyrocketing tuitions are jeopardizing the ticket to opportunity that institutions like Stony Brook provide.

California’s two public university systems are looking for Supermen or Superwomen who can increase funding, protect academic prestige, bolster graduation rates, ensure labor peace, and work for social justice. 

With such lofty goals, unprecedented simultaneous searches are underway to fill the top leadership positions at the 10-campus University of California and at the 23-campus California State University. The unusual timing of the recruitment efforts brings complicated challenges and possible benefits, experts say.