Committee appointed to assist with search for UT San Antonio president

AUSTIN—A committee that includes UT San Antonio alumni, faculty and staff will help advise The University of Texas System Board of Regents on the selection of UTSA’s next president, Regents’ Chairman Paul L. Foster announced today.

The UT San Antonio presidential search advisory committee will make recommendations on possible successors to Ricardo Romo, Ph.D., who announced his plans to retire as president at the end of the spring 2017 semester.

The search advisory committee will be asked to recommend names of potential candidates to the board, which will make the final decision. Committee members were selected in accordance with the Board of Regents’ Rules and Regulations, which include a provision for representation on such committees by various constituencies of the institution.

“Under President Romo’s leadership, UT San Antonio has been transformed to a vibrant, diverse and internationally-recognized institution with a reputation for academic excellence. We want to ensure the next president builds on this trajectory,” Foster said. “We are grateful to the members of the search advisory committee for their service and their role in this process and we look forward to hearing their feedback and recommendations.”

Representation includes:

• Chair of the committee (Steven Leslie, Ph.D., UT System executive vice chancellor for academic affairs) 

• Board of Regents (Vice Chairman Steven Hicks and Regent Ernest Aliseda)

• UT institution presidents (Guy Bailey, Ph.D., president of UT Rio Grande Valley; and William Henrich, M.D., president of UT Health San Antonio)

• UT San Antonio dean, faculty, staff and student (JoAnn Browning, dean of the College of Engineering; Emily Bonner, Ph.D., associate professor of interdisciplinary learning and teacher; Hamid Beladi, Ph.D., associate dean of research; Heather Shipley, Ph.D., associate professor of civil engineering; alternate Hazem Rashed-Ali, Ph.D., associate dean of research and graduate studies; Elisa Perkins, associate director for diversity and recruitment; and Andrew Hubbard, student)

• Alumni and community members (Michael Klein, president of the UTSA Alumni Association Board of Directors; James Bodenstedt, CEO and president of MUY!; Francisco Cigarroa, M.D., director of pediatric transplantation, UT Health San Antonio; and Martin Salinas, CEO and director of Phase 4 Energy Partners)

The UT System will establish a website to provide information regarding the search, including a timeline, and will provide an opportunity for members of the public to privately submit nominations for the next president of UT San Antonio. The website will be publicized subsequent to the first meeting of the search committee.

Witt/Kieffer, a global executive recruitment firm, is assisting the UT System in the national search.

About The University of Texas System

Educating students, providing care for patients, conducting groundbreaking basic, applied and clinical research, and serving the needs of Texans and the nation for more than 130 years, The University of Texas System is one of the largest public university systems in the United States. With 14 institutions and an enrollment of more than 221,000, the UT System confers more than one-third of the state’s undergraduate degrees, educates almost two-thirds of the state’s health care professionals annually and accounts for almost 70 percent of all research funds awarded to public institutions in Texas. The UT System’s operating budget for FY 2017 is $17.9 billion, including $3 billion in sponsored programs funded by federal, state, local and private sources. With more than 20,000 faculty – including Nobel laureates and many members of the National Academies – and nearly 80,000 health care professionals, researchers, student advisors and support staff, the UT System is one of the largest employers in the state.