The Arizona Board of Regents just took its first step towards finding a new University of Arizona president: forming a search committee.
The committee, which was announced in a statement by ABOR on Monday evening, includes 18 members. Three regents, five professors, one student and various university leaders and community members make up the committee.
“When selecting this committee, I wanted to make sure its members would bring diverse perspectives and a wide array of expertise,” ABOR Chair Cecila Mata, who is serving on the committee, said in a statement. “Their leadership, insights and contributions will be instrumental to the success of this search process.”
Current UA President Robert C. Robbins announced he was planning to step down by June 2026 two weeks ago. In a statement at the time, Mata said that the national search for his successor would “move forward with expediency.”
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It may be a complicated search — the UA is currently facing a $162 million deficit and in the final stages of a provost search.
“As the board embarks on selecting the next president of the University of Arizona, we will do so thoughtfully and with community input to ensure we find a visionary leader who can make a lasting impact on this top-tier research university,” Mata said.
The search committee’s first meeting will take place Wednesday in Tucson. There have already been executive ABOR sessions to discuss the search, but Wednesday marks the first time the newly formed committee will meet.
The regents serving on the committee include Mata, Fred DuVal and Doug Goodyear. Tobi Adigun, who serves on the University Advisory Council, is the only student represented.
Professors Mark Stegeman, who is also the Faculty Senate parliamentarian; Caleb Simmons, a member of the Committee of Eleven; Lucinda Rankin, a faculty senator; Melanie Hingle, a professor of nutritional sciences and Joellen Russell, a faculty senator who chaired the provost search committee, are also sitting on the presidential search committee.
According to ABOR, the committee has “one of the largest contingencies of faculty on an ABOR presidential search advisory committee.”
Additional UA employees serving on the committee are Marla Franco, vice president of Hispanic serving institution initiatives; David Hahn, the dean of the College of Engineering; Jenny Lee, the vice president of Arizona International and the dean of international education; Fletcher McCusker, CEO of UA Venture Capital; Desiree Reed-Francois, athletic director and Christina Rocha, manager of the Research, Innovation & Impact Business Center.
The outside community members on the committee are Erin Hart, the higher education policy advisor to Gov. Katie Hobbs; Humberto Lopez, president of H.S. Lopez Family Foundation and a large booster of Robbins, and Stephen Roe Lewis, the governor of the Gila River Indian Community.
Despite ABOR touting its search committee, not all community members are pleased. Maria Sohn Hasman, a program coordinator at the Arizona Institute for Resilience and member of the United Campus Workers of Arizona union, told the Arizona Daily Star that the committee was “incredibly disappointing.”
“One staff member? One student? No outreach to the union? UA Admin and ABOR continue to exclude us, the students, staff and faculty who keep this university going, from decisions,” she said.