'Rushed' U of A presidential recruitment process questioned by committee

A consultant has already started calling potential candidates for the University of Arizona presidency, prompting members of the search advisory committee to question the “rush.”

Some members reacted in consternation when Alberto Pimentel, co-founder of SP&A executive search consulting, announced at a meeting Monday that the firm has already started making those calls.

“I’m kind of surprised if that happened without our knowledge,” said Humberto Lopez, president of H.S. Lopez Family Foundation and a booster of current UA President Robert C. Robbins. “I still don’t see the rush. We have the sitting president doing a good job and he’s got a contract until June of ‘26.”

Robbins, under pressure for the UA’s financial deficit of $162 million, announced April 1 that he will step down from the post by June 2026, or earlier if the Arizona Board of Regents finds his successor sooner.

Pimentel told the committee “we’ve started calling individuals, letting them know that the search is underway,” and asking if potential candidates would be interested or if they might have anybody to nominate.

He previously told the search advisory committee that UA faces competition and he expected six to eight other top universities to host presidential searches by this fall.

In a statement from the Arizona Board of Regents, a spokesperson wrote that the board is "moving forward with deliberate speed to provide the university with the best possible field of prospects."

"As Regent Fred DuVal shared during the listening sessions, 'The search is not a calendar driven process. It’s a prospect driven process," the spokesperson wrote. "The committee and the board will go as quick or as slow as necessary to find the right person.'"

Monday’s Zoom meeting appeared to be the final one planned before the search firm publicly releases the position profile, or detailed job description, for the UA presidency. The search advisory committee, composed of faculty, staff, regents and community members, has been giving feedback on the position profile for weeks.

“We need to put the ads out this week and we need to start distributing the documents,” Pimentel told the group, urging the process of editing the position profile to wrap up.

“Why do we have to get this out immediately?” asked committee member Mark Stegeman, a professor in the UA Eller College of Management. “What is the legal or financial or other risk to a delay?”

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While some committee members, like Lopez, shared Stegeman’s concern, others spent their time in the meeting suggesting further edits to the position profile.

Jenny Lee, vice president for Arizona International and dean of international education, said she hopes to see more east Asian representation in photos of the campus and students. She added that there should be more information about the 15 micro campuses the university operates.

Marla Franco, vice president of Hispanic serving institution initiatives, said there should be more information about UA Online programming.

Geosciences Professor Joellen Russell said she worries that parts of the position profile were “muddled” and made the university “look weak.”

“We mushed in student success or priorities and access with our priorities in excellence,” she said. “It didn’t come across very well, (it) looked like a hodge podge.”

Russell added that she wants to avoid a “party school” reputation.

“We feel like we’re in the process of becoming and that we’re not just a party school,” she said. “Often Arizona, because of (Arizona State University) and other awesomeness is seen as a place where you can get a cheaper degree in a sunny state where there’s lots of pools.”

She sees the position profile as a way to deter candidates who view the university in that manner.

“It’s not just what we’re trying to say, it’s what we’re trying to avoid,” she said.