National Search for SVP Academic Affairs & Provost

Dear UA Community Members,

I am pleased to announce that we have launched a national search for our next Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs & Provost. This is an expanded and reimagined role that will provide leadership for our academic initiatives, research enterprise, and student affairs and enrollment efforts. A role of this scope and magnitude will require a visionary and highly collaborative leader committed to making the University of Arizona a destination for the world’s best thinkers and the nation’s top students. 
 
Given the importance of this search, I have taken great care in selecting the search advisory committee’s two co-chairs: Carol Barnes and Gregg Goldman. Carol Barnes is a Regents' Professor who holds appointments in the departments of Psychology, Neurology, the Arizona Research Laboratories Division of Neural Systems, Memory and Aging, and the BIO5 Institute. She is also the Evelyn F. McKnight Chair for Learning and Memory in Aging. In recognition of her status as a world leader in the study of the neural mechanisms of memory loss during normal brain aging, Dr. Barnes was recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences and was also recently elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  
 
She will partner with Gregg Goldman, senior vice president for business affairs and CFO for the University. Under Mr. Goldman’s leadership, the University has moved to a strong financial position, broken ground on the new Honors village, completed plans for a dynamic student success district and committed to a more transparent budgeting model. He will serve as a close partner to our chief academic officer and collaborate with the individual selected to craft a business model that allows us to deliver on our academic mission. In addition to the two co-chairs, I am in the process of inviting a group of highly respected individuals to join the search advisory committee. I know these members will move the search process forward in a thoughtful manner, actively engage our varied stakeholders, listen and evaluate well, and recommend a slate of candidates who are positioned to achieve our ambitious aspirations.
 
We have retained the services of Russell Reynolds Associates to assist us in this process and Dr. Charles Falcone will serve as a lead consultant. The firm will be building a pool of qualified candidates from around the nation and we welcome nominations and applications. I have asked our co-chairs to organize with our consultant and the selection committee over the summer and be ready to move full steam ahead at the start of our next academic year.

Sincerely,
 

Robert C. Robbins 

President

The University of Arizona