U of A president search: 'You're swimming with sharks,' consultant says

The University of Arizona faces competition from other high-profile universities in searching for its next president, says the UA’s new executive search consultant.

By this fall, “six to eight” other such universities will be looking for a new president, Alberto Pimentel, co-founder of SP&A Executive Search, told the UA’s presidential search advisory committee Wednesday. The UA is paying SP&A $275,000 to assist in the search.

Pimentel said the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill will be looking for a president, as will Washington State University and “two others that I can’t speak about (but) are absolutely going to happen.”

“The marketplace is going to be crowded,” he said. “You’re swimming with sharks.”

Arizona’s regents, who oversee the UA, have said they want to move quickly, and Pimentel agrees.

“Expediency means that you move at a level of sure footedness,” he said, adding that though “on the surface it seems quick,” it’s a good move for the UA to start now given the expected competition later this year.

UA President Robert C. Robbins has said he’ll step down by June 2026 or sooner if his successor is in place.

The search advisory committee met on Wednesday afternoon and then held a listening session for the public that night.

Here’s what to know:

Notification was lacking

Only about 40 people attended the UA committee’s listening session Wednesday night, though that could be because staff and students were not notified it was happening.

The event was only posted on the Arizona Board of Regents website and sent to the UA’s faculty email listserv.

There will be other listening sessions soon and the university plans to send a campus-wide email to solicit feedback soon, according to a UA spokesperson.

What is the search looking for?

Faculty members serving on the committee reinforced the importance of the candidate having a higher education background.

“The person must be an expert in higher education,” said Joellen Russell, a faculty senator and professor of geosciences who serves on the committee. “We need a leader in higher education who is good at this.”

Fletcher McCusker, a UA alum and the CEO of UA Venture Capital, said he believes the right candidate shouldn’t just be a dean at another university but someone who has experience as a “sitting president.”

“It’s clear to me that the preference is academic,” McCusker said. He added later that the committee “might be interested in someone who’s not available” or currently on the hunt for a new job but did not give specifics.

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It is “almost essential” for the candidate to have experience in higher education, said Eller College of Management Professor and Faculty Senate Parliamentarian Mark Stegeman said.

“I think there’s an advantage given the historical strengths of the university for someone who has a science or engineering background or who has a lot of experience in that,” he added.

How many finalists will there be?

That’s up in the air, according to Regent Doug Goodyear.

“Some of it will depend on the pool of prospects,” he said. “If it turns out there’s only one, we might have to deal with that differently.”

He added that “a lot of that depends on how things unfold.”

What did students have to say?

The students who attended the listening session made sure to make their voices heard.

“Our wellbeing is in your hands,” said Maya Yoon Braun, vice president of the graduate and professional students’ council. “To date, I don’t see an ounce of care.”

Yoon Braun is among students, both at the graduate and undergraduate level, who have called for greater representation on the search advisory committee. There is one student — Tobi Adigun — on the committee, and he is set to graduate in less than a month.

Adriana Grijalva, the incoming student body president of the Associated Students of the UA, said the over 44,000 students she was elected to represent are the “driving force behind our inclusive and strong community we strive to create here.”

“I wouldn’t be doing my job right if I didn’t fight for a seat in this committee to advocate on behalf of all students,” she said. “My commitment to students is to be a voice for change and an advocate for all, and that is why it is important to have student representation in this committee.”

How much should president be paid?

Robbins makes just over $1 million as UA president when you combine his salary and other employment perks.

The UA doesn’t need a “fancy CEO making a million bucks living in a taxpayer funded mansion,” Anna Cooper, a professor in the School of Theatre, Film and Television, told the committee.

She spent her time speaking to the group to argue for a “public servant” with experience in higher education.

“Nobody in Tucson needs to make more than $300,000,” she said. “You just don’t need to. And it’s so much more important right now that we have somebody who has deep ties to this community and who can listen and collaborate with students and staff and faculty and community members.”