Head of University of Iowa Health Care to lead presidential search committee

IOWA CITY - The head of University of Iowa Health Care will lead a search committee charged with identifying candidates for the institution's 21st president.

Outgoing president Sally Mason last month announced plans to retire Aug. 1, and the Board of Regents on Monday said Jean E. Robillard, vice president for UI medical affairs, will chair a 'presidential search and screen committee.”

The Board of Regents, which is overseeing the search, has not provided additional details around the process, including a timeline, who else might serve on the committee, and if a search firm has been retained. But board officials Tuesday told The Gazette much of that information will be addressed Thursday during the board's meeting in Cedar Falls.

Mason's retirement will follow the retirements of UI Senior Vice President and Treasurer Doug True, who recently departed after 27 years with the university, and Director of Public Safety Chuck Green, who left his post in January after 29 years with the institution.

Those three departures deplete the university of a combined 64 years of institutional knowledge.

The public safety and vice president roles have been filled on an interim basis, but UI spokeswoman Jeneane Beck said searches for permanent replacements have been put on hold pending selection of a new president.

'We will do nationwide searches for those positions,” Beck said, adding that those processes will come second to the presidential search, as Mason's replacement likely will want a say in his or her staff.

'And we have capable interims in place,” Beck said.

Board of Regents President Bruce Rastetter has said the UI presidential search will look similar to those recently conducted at UNI and ISU. The UNI search, which netted William Ruud in 2013, took about four months. The ISU search, which landed Steven Leath in 2011, took about three months.

Rastetter has said, however, the board will not rush the UI search, calling the need for an interim president a 'distinct possibility” once Mason's tenure ends July 31.

Robillard, who will work with the board and other faculty and UI community members to find Mason's replacement, was named UI Vice President for medical affairs in 2007 after serving four years as dean of the UI Carver College of Medicine. In his current role, he oversees planning and operations for the UI Hospitals and Clinics, the Carver College of Medicine, and UI Physicians.

UI Health Care contributes more than $3.4 billion to the state's economy and employs more than 25,000 people, according to the university.

Robillard is a pediatric nephrologist who has published more than 220 scientific papers in his career. He served as chair and professor of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Michigan Medical School and physician-in-chief at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital before coming to Iowa.

Mason, who became the 20th UI president in 2007, told reporters last month she decided to retire during winter break, calling it the right time both personally and professionally. Over the last eight years, Mason led the university through the devastating Flood of 2008, the subsequent recession, numerous sexual assault scandals, and other campuswide crises involving binge drinking, rising tuition rates, and student debt.

Most recently, Mason has worked with the regents on a systemwide efficiency review - which could cut hundreds of jobs and save millions across the three regent campuses - and a new funding formula that ties a majority of state appropriations to resident enrollment.

The university could lose $12.9 million in the funding model's first year unless the institution enrolls more Iowans. Mason has listed increasing Iowan enrollment among her goals in the coming six months - along with fundraising, developing a new strategic plan, and improving the campus' efficiency.

Mason took a step toward giving in-state enrollment a shot in the arm last month by proposing a merger with AIB College of Business in Des Moines. The private college has about 1,000 students, more than 800 of whom are residents, potentially boosting UI's allocations under the new funding formula.

The Board of Regents must approve that partnership, which could allow UI to take ownership of AIB and debut a second UI campus in Des Moines as soon as next fall.