What does a university president do?
As President, I am charged with leading Arizona State University in a manner that advances its special mission to serve its students and the people of Arizona.
As you might imagine given the size and scope of ASU, I have numerous administrative, fiduciary, legal, public and planning responsibilities related to virtually every aspect of the university’s operation. I oversee the workings of the university on a day-to-day basis and provide direction and leadership on decisions ranging from budget issues to fiscal planning, faculty concerns to human resources to academic programming, fundraising to student outreach, construction to government relations to athletics, and everything in between. In doing so, I work with the faculty, the university provost, the campus provosts, and an administrative team led by the university vice presidents, to carry out all of these responsibilities.
It is also my duty to keep the Arizona Board of Regents apprised of the university’s work and progress. The Arizona Board of Regents is a group of citizens appointed by the Governor to serve seven (7) year terms to oversee all three state universities. The Board of Regents includes one student member to ensure that student interests and concerns are fully considered in the governance of the Arizona University System.
On top of supervising daily operations, a major part of my job involves developing contingencies for the future and planning accordingly for ASU’s future success. This requires the careful analysis of data that identifies and projects growth, the needs of future students, the personnel and infrastructure needed to meet those needs, the challenges that may arise, and how the university will acquire the resources and investments necessary for its future success. It also requires the development of a detailed strategy for the university that will guide its operations and activities. Among the kinds of questions that need to be answered in developing and implementing our strategy are the following: Where can the university build strength? What must it do to serve and improve the surrounding region? What concepts are central to the work that the university is performing? What goals are the university trying to reach? Where does the university need to be 10, 20, 50 years from now?
In between those activities, I am also responsible for serving as the public representative of the university in many diverse instances. I meet with municipal leaders, members of the Arizona Legislature, the Governor, and our congressional delegation several times a year to represent ASU’s interests at the local, state and federal levels. I serve on many boards and committees, including the State Board of Education, the ASU Foundation Board of Directors, the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, Greater Phoenix Leadership, the Translational Genomics Institute Board of Directors, and the Council on Foreign Relations, among many others. I also have responsibilities to numerous alumni, community, charitable, business, and educational constituencies.
And in the midst of these meetings, briefings, presentations, speaking engagements, and planning sessions, I also work hard to spend time with ASU students. I meet regularly with student government and student groups, participate in office hours, and teach a class each spring, Science, Technology and Public Affairs (PAF 547). I value these interactions a great deal as they ultimately serve as the inspiration for all of the other work I do.
At the end of the day, my job is to provide students and the people of Arizona with the very best university I possibly can.