Board of Regents chairman provides update on search for new chancellor

Please see the statement below from University of Texas System Board of Regents Chairman Paul L. Foster regarding the search for a new chancellor.

As conveyed in a recent news conference, Chancellor Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D. announced that he will return to The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio faculty as the head of pediatric transplant surgery later this year. Not surprisingly, the outpouring of accolades for Chancellor Cigarroa’s distinguished service and accomplishments has been heartening and greatly appreciated. Given all that Chancellor Cigarroa was able to accomplish to advance the UT System and 15 highly differentiated institutions that comprise it, the Regents are mindful of how challenging it will be to identify and select a worthy successor. We will search for someone who will bring his level of energy, broad experience and unwavering commitment to Texas and to all who are served by its universities.

We acknowledge there is no more important role for this Board than the selection of a chancellor, the chief executive officer for one of the nation's largest and most complex higher education enterprises. We will devote a major portion of our time and energy to this responsibility.

In preparation for this challenge, I have authorized the Board Office to proceed with the steps necessary to hire an executive search firm to work with the Board on the recruitment of a new chancellor. It is my hope that we will be able to select a new chancellor during the summer with a starting date at the beginning of the fall 2014 semester. 

Because of the extraordinary importance of this search, I am grateful that the Regents’ vice chairmen, Gene Powell and Steve Hicks, have agreed to serve with me to perform the function of a search advisory committee during a process that I foresee as an extensive national search. I will chair the search process. 

The search will be open, inclusive and thorough – consistent with the traditions of excellence in the UT System and the prominent role of the System in American higher education. As part of that open process, we will create a special page on the UT System website to keep university constituencies and the public informed about the search and to receive comments and recommendations from them. This will be accessible at www.utsystem.edu/bor when the search commences.

 As part of this process, we will solicit input from the presidents of our academic and health institutions, alumni and generous supporters. We will also seek the involvement of the UT System faculty, student and employee advisory councils in the process.

 This is an exciting and demanding assignment – one that falls to relatively few members of the Board of Regents over time. We understand the significance of this important responsibility, and we will work diligently to bring the UT institutions and UT System Administration the best chancellor imaginable. The people of Texas deserve nothing less.

Paul L. Foster
Chairman