Several candidates for the University of Arizona presidency are set to speak with members of the Arizona Board of Regents as the search makes “significant progress,” according to the head search consultant.
Alberto Pimentel, co-founder of SP&A Executive Search, told the presidential search advisory committee Monday in its seventh meeting that his team is deep in the process of vetting potential candidates.
The conversations in the national search, Pimentel said, have been with university presidents, provosts and vice presidents of research, as well as leaders in professional associations and national laboratories.
“These efforts have generated a considerable number of names and has very much heightened the awareness about the position and the level of enthusiasm,” he told the committee. The calls, he added, have been “stronger than we thought we were going to have initially.”
The search doesn’t have a formal timeline, but needs to conclude by June 2026, when UA President Robert C. Robbins’ contract ends. Robbins announced in April that he will step down by then or sooner if ABOR finds his replacement.
Pimentel said the search isn’t quite at the stage to conduct first-round interviews, but said it was “moving at a pace that is not only brisk but very inclusive,” and that it could terminate “somewhere in the near future.”
The committee also viewed and discussed the rubric it plans to use for the search. The draft form includes eight sections. Each section is a leadership quality, with potential scores including “exceptional,” “above average,” “average,” “below average” and “does not meet criteria.”
The rubric, Pimentel said, “shouldn’t be the definitive voice in determining who moves forward and who doesn’t.”
Here are the categories in the draft rubric:
— Academic and Research Excellence: A deep commitment to and proven track record for fostering an academic environment that values, promotes and champions academic excellence and the growth of the university’s research expenditures.
— Visionary Leadership: The ability to envision, articulate and implement a strategic vision and institutional identity for the university, set goals, establish assessment mechanisms and re-align resources as necessary within a large, complex environment to achieve that vision.
— Interpersonal and Engagement Style: The ability to engage and build trust with faculty, staff, undergraduate students, graduate students and alumni. History of valuing and supporting shared governance structures, transparent decision making and effectively engaging faculty and staff. Ability to bring people together to find common ground and work towards shared goals.
— Student-Centered Engagement: A deep and genuine passion for and depth of experience in serving first-generation college students and a diverse undergraduate and graduate student body. Willingness to be available and accessible to students in meaningful ways.
— Strategic and Tactical Managerial Experience: Demonstrated ability to deploy financial and human resources to advance the university’s strategic goals. A history of successful leadership in a complex, multi-faceted organization, particularly in times of transition. Demonstrated sound judgement and transparency in making difficult decisions.
— Understanding of Financial Systems: Ability to provide strong fiscal oversight and direction in a very complex fiscal operation. Ability to monitor and instill accountability into multi-departmental budgets and financial statements. A working knowledge of decentralized accounting protocols consolidation and creating a campus-wide focus on managing to the budget.
— Communication and Advocacy: Strong and demonstrated ability to be the leading champion of the university to the media, policymakers, ABOR and other key stakeholders. Ability to adeptly navigate complicated national, state, local and international issues in higher education. Ability to increase U of A’s national reputation.
— Fundraising Experience: Demonstrated ability to fundraise at the scale needed to meet the university’s growing needs, including developing new revenue streams.
Joellen Russell, a geosciences professor and committee member, said she would like to see a point added about the ability to recruit leaders.
“We are pretty remote compared to say, California or equivalent,” she noted. “So, I think that’s incredibly important. That (candidates) are able to recruit and grow.”
There was also a brief debate about the top of the rubric, which states that candidates must have “an earned doctorate or other terminal degree and an outstanding profile of distinguished scholarship and teaching, suitable for a tenured appointment as a full professor.”
Russell said she thinks that “terminal degrees in other fields doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re a scholar,” and said it was significant to her that candidates have PhDs.
The UA has had a medical doctor as president, and that was “not as successful as we might’ve hoped,” she said. Robbins, a cardiothoracic surgeon, is an MD.
Committee member Mark Stegeman, a professor in the Eller College of Management and the parliamentarian for the Faculty Senate, said he hoped to include something about a candidate having “local ties, previous experience at the institution (or) not a history of job hopping” to try and nail down a president who would stay at the university for an extended period of time.
“I think the transience of university executive leadership is an issue and something like a tie with the UA or a tie with Arizona or a history of staying places is significant,” he said.
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