White flowers are planted around the historic fountain in front of the Old Main building on the University of Arizona campus.
The University of Arizona Presidential Search Advisory Committee met Monday afternoon to finalize criteria that will be used to evaluate candidates for UA’s next president.
“The focus is on getting the right person, not just completing the search process–two completely different issues,” co-founder of SP&A Executive Search Alberto Pimentel said.
Top priorities that will be considered for the university’s 23rd president include an understanding of UA’s financial systems, the ability to build trust within the campus community as well as a successful history of leading universities through a time of transition.
Committee member Fletcher McCusker, who is also the CEO of UAVenture Capital and a member of UArizona’s FORGE Strategic Advisory Council, drafted language that would make the understanding of the university’s financial systems a priority.
“Now that we have a chief operating officer,” McCusker said. “I think there's a very different relationship between those two people, which allows the president to be more extern.”
Another member, Joellen Russell, added that including the budget to the evaluation criteria is necessary.
“Our budget is our values,” Russell said. “If you don't understand exactly how our budget works and when, especially when we're changing it, we won't be able to protect our fundamental values, because we won't understand exactly how those are supported by our revenue and activity.”
Other factors that will be included are an understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion values given UA’s land grant and Hispanic serving institution status. When the evaluation rubric is complete, top candidates for the job will be asked to interview with the Arizona Board of Regents.
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