Education

Outgoing University of Alaska president selects interim UAF chancellor

Outgoing University of Alaska President Pat Gamble announced Tuesday that UA Regent Mike Powers will serve as the interim chancellor for the University of Alaska Fairbanks beginning September 1.

Powers, who retired as the chief executive officer of Fairbanks Memorial Hospital at the start of July, will temporarily fill the position that Brian Rogers plans to retire from. Rogers announced his retirement in April after seven years as UAF chancellor.

Rogers' exit from the UAF chancellor position marks the turnover of one of several top positions this year within the far-flung and diverse UA system. The University of Alaska Southeast chancellor also retired this summer. Gamble, the UA president, plans to retire in the coming months. In January, Gov. Bill Walker appointed four people to the UA Board of Regents, replacing the regents whose eight-year terms were set to expire. That represented a turnover of more than a third of the board's 11 positions.

"It's a very interesting time," Regents Chair Jo Heckman said on Tuesday.

At UAS, Rick Caulfield, a veteran University of Alaska professor and administrator, replaced outgoing chancellor John Pugh on June 1. Pugh, appointed chancellor in 1999, announced his retirement in October 2014. In May, Gamble named Caulfield the next UAS chancellor.

Meanwhile, Gamble had already told the UA Board of Regents in December that he planned to step down after five years on the job, setting his retirement date for June 1. Earlier in 2014, the UA regents offered Gamble a $320,000 retention bonus if he stayed until May 2016, but after it became a political controversy, Gamble asked that they reconsider and the regents voted 9-1 to pull back the offer in September.

In April, Heckman said in a written announcement that the regents asked Gamble, a retired U.S. Air Force general and former Alaska Railroad executive, to extend his resignation date so the regents could properly vet candidates for his position.

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"Given the extraordinary fiscal challenges facing the university, this brief extension also will bring the president's exceptional knowledge of UA's system to bear in starting implementation of plans to downsize UA during FY16 and in preparing for what is expected to be an even tighter budget in FY 17," Heckman said in the announcement.

The regents proposed a single finalist for the UA president's position in June -- Jim Johnsen, a former UA vice president who is now a senior vice president at Alaska Communications. The regents took a month to meet with various groups and get feedback on Johnsen's candidacy. The regents will hold a meeting in Anchorage on July 28 to review the feedback, Heckman said.

"We want to hear from the people," she said. "We still have a week to go. We'll wait for that and then see what it is that the UA community says about our candidate: Thumbs up? Thumbs down?"

The Board of Regents has said it expects to have a new president on the job at UA by the start of fall term.

The selection of a permanent UAF chancellor could take eight to 10 months, said Kathleen Wattum, assistant director of UA public affairs. She said Powers has not expressed interest in taking on the position permanently.

But to take on the job of interim chancellor at UAF, Powers had to resign as a regent, creating a vacancy on the governor-appointed board responsible for UA policy and management through the UA president.

"The Governor hopes to fill the Board of Regents position vacated by Mr. Powers as soon as possible," said Katie Marquette, the press secretary for Walker, in an email.

Then-Gov. Sean Parnell had appointed Powers to the Board of Regents in 2011.

"I'm really sad to lose him," Heckman said of Powers. "It will be interesting to see him still in the room but at a different table. The dynamics have changed a little bit, but knowing Mike, he will do a really fantastic job as the interim UAF chancellor. He's a great leader and, above that, he's a great person."

Wattum said Gamble named Powers as the UAF interim chancellor so the new UA president would not have to make that call immediately upon starting in the position. Powers' base annual salary is set at $300,000. He will not get the chancellor's house or car, she said.

"This sets the groundwork for the new president to be able to do a thorough search and vetting and give it the time that it needs," she said.

Tegan Hanlon

Tegan Hanlon was a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News between 2013 and 2019. She now reports for Alaska Public Media.

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