Update 4/16/15

For Immediate Release

April 16, 2015

The following announcement was made by Regent Chair Jo Heckman at the board's meeting in Bethel this past week:

After review of applications submitted for University of Alaska (UA) president since Patrick K. Gamble announced his retirement in December, the UA search advisory committee has forwarded to the Board of Regents a number of candidates for the board's further review.

The Board thanks the committee for its diligent, thoughtful assistance and will now proceed to further evaluate candidates to determine finalists.

The Board realizes the importance of selecting the next university president. After further deliberations the Board has asked Gamble to extend his resignation date for a few months so the presidential candidates can be properly vetted.

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.