The search committee helping to select the next University of Arizona president met for the first time Thursday and talked about what qualities they’d like to see in candidates, namely the abilities to innovate and to unite diverse interests.
President Ann Weaver Hart announced in June that she would not ask for an extension on her contract. Since then, the Arizona Board of Regents has hired a search consultant and assembled a search committee.
The committee’s job is to decide which applicants will advance to the interview stage and then to give the board advice on who should be considered a finalist. Once the Regents make a final decision, the new president could start as early as next summer.
The 27 members of the search committee spent most of Thursday’s meeting getting to know each other and talking about their individual and collective ideas about what qualities the next president should have.
Regent Bill Ridenour joked they’re looking for “God on a good day.”
Law school dean Marc Miller said the UA needs an innovator who can help solve the problems of how to finance the university given fewer state tax dollars.
Committee member Tony Penn, president and CEO of the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona, said the UA also needs “a uniter” who can quickly build consensus among a variety of interests — students, faculty, athletics, alumni and donor groups, and business — and move forward.
The committee members also learned it’s a very competitive job market for university presidents .
Search consultant Bill Funk said there are as many as 50 presidential job openings at colleges with at least 5,000 students. So the UA will be competing with schools like Duke, Cornell, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, University of New Mexico, University of Tennessee and Auburn for the best candidates.
