When will UVa have a new president?

There is no guarantee that the University of Virginia will have a new president by the time students return to Grounds in Charlottesville on Aug. 26.

UVa announced Wednesday that the selection of an interim president will take weeks and is set to include a nomination process as well as multiple listening sessions with university community members.

Former UVa President Jim Ryan’s resignation took effect last Friday after he announced June 26 he would be stepping down under pressure from the Trump administration Department of Justice.

Ryan’s announcement came after DOJ officials say Ryan slow-walked the removal of diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the school and misrepresented the steps UVa has taken to end them after the White House and the university’s governing Board of Visitors explicitly instructed him to do so.

UVa Chief Operating Officer J.J. Davis was named acting president while the process for selecting an interim president is underway.

A website, www.virginia.edu/nominations, launched Tuesday, welcoming members of the university community to nominate candidates. UVa credentials are required to access the nomination form. The form will close after 5 p.m. July 25.

UVa spokeswoman Bethanie Glover told The Daily Progress she had no date for the selection of an interim president and could not comment on whether the selection process was standard.

Vice Rector Porter Wilkinson, a Youngkin appointee to the university Board of Visitors who took her new leadership position at the start of the month, touted the new website at a UVa Faculty Senate Executive Council meeting last week, saying she hopes “anyone in the community will be able to say, give us recommendations, either for the interim president or the permanent president.”

Listening sessions with students, faculty and staff, as well as employees of the UVa Health System, will follow the nominating process and provide university leaders an opportunity “to learn what qualities stakeholders seek in an interim president,” according to the website.

“As we begin the process of identifying an interim president to lead the University, the Board of Visitors is committed to working closely with members of our community to hear their perspectives and ensure stability and continuity going forward,” UVa Rector Rachel Sheridan, another Youngkin appointee to the board who took her leadership position July 1, said in a statement announcing the new website.

Ryan’s departure is just one of the latest resignations of UVa’s top leaders over the past few years. This week alone UVa Medical Center CEO Wendy Horton and UVa Medical School Dean Dr. Melina Kibbe have both announced they will be leaving Charlottesville for jobs out west. Their departures follow UVa Health CEO Dr. Craig Kent’s resignation in February, amid allegations of criminal and ethical wrongdoing within the health system. Provost Ian Baucom resigned in March after he was named president of Middlebury College in Vermont. Basketball coach Tony Bennett resigned last October over his discomfort with the changing landscape of college athletics, specifically the transfer portal and name, image and likeness deals. And Dean of Students Robyn Hadley resigned in August of 2023 in the wake of the year-prior shooting that killed three students on Grounds.

Source: www.dailyprogress.com