The search for University of Arizona President Ann Weaver Hart’s replacement will be led by what some might call an odd couple: one of Hart’s staunchest critics alongside one of her biggest fans.
Arizona Board of Regents member Bill Ridenour of Paradise Valley, a UA alumnus and former fundraising trustee and the only regent to publicly question Hart’s job performance, will chair the search committee for the school’s next leader.
Tucson Regent Ron Shoopman, the CEO of the Southern Arizona Leadership Council who regularly praises Hart at regents’ meetings, will serve as vice chair of the search effort.
The two were appointed by Regent Greg Patterson of Scottsdale, a Hart supporter who recently took over as chairman of the board.
Patterson, asked in an email why he chose a pair of search leaders with opposing views of the current UA president, said he is seeking the diverse perspectives that they will be able to provide due to their extensive community connections.
Ridenour said he and Shoopman respect each other and predicts they will “work very well together.
“He is very involved in the Tucson business community and that will be an important constituency” to connect with during the search, Ridenour said.
Shoopman said he’s looking forward to finding a new president who can build on Hart’s accomplishments and “positively shape the future.”
The differences between Ridenour and Shoopman are illustrated by their respective views of the biggest controversy of Hart’s UA career, her decision earlier this year to take a $170,000-a-year side job on the board of for-profit DeVry University.
Amid scores of complaints from the public that Hart shouldn’t be splitting her loyalties when her UA pay package totals more than $665,000, both men received an April email from Regent CEO Eileen Klein alerting them that she was about to make a public statement expressing her “growing concern” over Hart’s decision.
Ridenour wrote back: “I think that you should not only express your growing concern but the Board’s growing concern … . I think we need to ratchet up pressure” (on Hart).
Shoopman wrote back asking Klein to call him on his cell phone before she issued the statement. Neither Shoopman nor Klein will say publicly what they talked about, but after they spoke, Klein decided not to release her statement.
The internal exchanges are captured in numerous emails the Arizona Daily Star has obtained through recent public records requests.
The new UA presidential search committee also will include outside members, but those appointments have yet to be determined.
Hart announced June 10 she plans to step down as president in 2018 when her contract expires. Some regents have said she could be replaced next year once a new leader is aboard.
Ridenour said in an interview that before the next UA president is hired, he intends to seek a change to the regents’ policy that allowed Hart to accept the DeVry job without scrutiny and to hold onto it despite months of public opposition.
The policy permits university presidents to moonlight at their discretion without having to seek board permission.
Their contracts state only that they must give top priority to their day jobs, which Hart has said she is doing.
Regents staff have issued a request for proposal to hire a search firm to conduct a national search for Hart’s replacement.
