The next President of Texas A&M University will come from the University of Washington.
Chancellor John Sharp says Michael K. Young and his wife Marti were sold following a trip to Aggieland, where they met with a variety of university and community representatives.
The board of regents, who named Young their sole finalist, will consider his contract following a state mandated 21 day waiting period.
Sharp says Young will receive a five year contract. Financial terms are being negotiated. Sharp told a reporter Young’s “salary will not compare to the last president’s salary but this president will not compare to the last president.”
Young, who is finishing is fourth year at the University of Washington, was also in the running for the president’s job at the University of Texas.
The regents and the chancellor thanked A&M interim president Dr. Mark Hussey for his service, which allowed the search process to take more than one year.
Sharp said his first contact with Young was last November over lunch in Seattle. Sharp said Young agreed to reciprocate.
The chancellor told the regents Young was sold on Texas A&M following a visit with a group of students who Sharp said didn’t know they were talking with the presidential candidate.
Sharp says Young is someone “that is collaborative, that works with faculty, that knows what exactly needs to be done in order to build a great research university.”
Faculty Senate Speaker Jim Woolsey says Young “does fulfill many of what the faculty has shown to want in a president for this university.” “We are at a place with a academician in this presidential position where we really haven’t been, and I think it’s a good move up.”
Click below to listen to the Board of Regents meeting, comments to local reporters from John Sharp and Faculty Senate Speaker Jim Woolsey, and comments to Seattle area reporters from Sharp and Woolsey.
News release from the University of Washington
University of Washington President Michael K. Young on Tuesday was named as the sole finalist for president of Texas A&M University by its Board of Regents. Young became President of the UW in July 2011. Young is expected to assume his duties at Texas A&M in the spring.
Statement from UW President Michael K. Young
“Deciding to be a candidate for the presidency of Texas A&M University was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. I was not looking to leave the University of Washington, but the allure of the recruitment process led to conversations in which the opportunity to bring new leadership and fresh ideas to another outstanding university presented itself with some force.
“My time at the University of Washington without question has been the most rewarding of my professional career to date. The University is one of America’s great universities, and I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished here. There are many exciting initiatives in motion and much to look forward to. I believe my successor will have ample opportunity to build on what the outstanding leadership, faculty, staff, and students at the University have underway — and of course develop new initiatives of his or her own.
“The UW has many wonderful friends and supporters, both here in the northwest and around the globe. I am grateful to all of them for the support they have shown me and Marti and for their undying loyalty to the institution. I am also grateful to my many colleagues on the faculty and staff, and to our exceptional students. They have made my job relatively easy — they have achieved the many accomplishments of the university and deserve full credit. I will miss them all enormously.”
Statement from Bill Ayer, chair of the UW Board of Regents
“The news about UW President Michael Young and Texas A&M University has come as a surprise to the Board of Regents. We are saddened and disappointed at the prospect of President Young departing from the UW, but we certainly wish him and Marti well. He has accomplished a great deal at the University, including a number of bold initiatives whose fruition will come after he is gone. On behalf of the Board, I want to thank him for his leadership.
“The Board will be convening soon to discuss succession of the presidency — on an interim basis at first and then plans for conducting a search for the next University president. We will be making announcements as decisions are reached.
“The University is thriving. We have a record number of applicants, we are the world leader among public universities for research funding, and our friends and alumni continue to show their generosity to the University in sheer record numbers. The Regents believe this remains one of the very best places in higher education to attract outstanding leadership, and we will go about the search with energy and great enthusiasm.
“In the meantime, we ask the University community to join us in expressing our appreciation to Mike and Marti Young and wishing them the very best in Texas.”
News release courtesy of Texas A&M University System
Chancellor John Sharp announced today that The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents has named Michael K. Young as the sole finalist for president of Texas A&M University. Young was selected as sole finalist during a telephonic meeting today of the Board of Regents.
“Our search for the next President of Texas A&M was thorough, comprehensive, and deliberate,” said Phil Adams, chairman of the Board of Regents. “I applaud the work of Chancellor Sharp and the Presidential Search Advisory Committee, chaired by Regent Cliff Thomas, in identifying the very best leader we could have for this important time in the history of Texas A&M. Mike Young’s proven record at the head of major centers of learning made him a clear choice.”
“With Mike Young as our President, Texas A&M will make great strides toward our goal to become the best public university in the country,” said Chancellor Sharp. “His stature as one of the top 10 university presidents in America and his background at major research universities will help take us to new heights, and I am honored to have Mike and his wife, Marti, become part of the Texas A&M family.”
Young comes to Texas A&M from the University of Washington, where he has served as President since July 2011. He brings more than three decades of teaching, research, public service, and leadership in higher education. Under his leadership at the University of Washington, in the face of significant cuts in state funding, the university was able to maintain economic stability and retain its “AAA – Stable” rating, research funding increased dramatically, and fundraising records were set.
“If other presidents could see what I saw in visits to Texas A&M, they would see a university that is already the largest research university in the Southwest, but also a university poised to be one of the greatest research universities in America,” said Young. “Marti and I want to be part of expanding that excellence and a part of the great spirit and tradition that is Texas A&M. Chancellor Sharp is a leader of vision and I look forward to working with someone who has such a passion for excellence and commitment to the highest standards.”
Prior to serving as president of the University of Washington, he was president and Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Utah from 2004 to 2011, during which time the university built more than two million square feet of research and teaching space and rose in stature to become one of the top 100 universities in the world.
Young, a native of California, received a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science and Japanese from Brigham Young University, graduating Summa Cum Laude with Highest Honors. He received a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School, where he served on the Harvard Law Review and graduated Magna Cum Laude. Following graduation from Harvard, he served as a law clerk to the late Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. He spent 20 years at Columbia University Law School as Fuyo Professor of Japanese Law, teaching, researching international law and human rights, and serving as founder and director of the Centers for Japanese and Korean Legal Studies.
From Columbia, Young was appointed dean of the George Washington University Law School, where he focused on building top-level faculty and students and establishing study and research relationships with foreign institutions, propelling GW into a top 20 nationally ranked law school.
Concurrently with his academic career, Young served on and chaired the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom from 1998 to 2006, and from 1989 to 1993 pursued trade, international, environmental and human rights agreements for the United States as Deputy Legal Advisor, Deputy Under-Secretary and Ambassador for Trade and Environmental Affairs in the U.S. Department of State.
He has also served on (among others), the Committee on International Judicial Relations for the Judicial Conference of the United States, the Brown v. Board of Education 50th Anniversary Commission, the U.S. Air Force Academy Board of Visitors, and as Counsel on the Select Subcommittee on Transfers of Iranian Arms to Bosnian Muslims. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and also currently serves as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and on the American Council on Education Commission on International Initiatives.
Young is the author of numerous books, monographs and articles, and the recipient of a wide variety of awards and honors, including: the Distinguished Service Award, L.D.S. International Association; International Leader of the Year, World Trade Association of Utah; U.S.-China Educational Collaboration Leadership Award, Chinese Association for Science and Technology – USA; Helping Hands Award, Utah Youth Village; Award in Recognition of Excellence in the Promotion of International Religious Freedom, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; Award for Distinguished Service in Promoting Religious Freedom, The International Center for Law Religious Studies at Brigham Young University; Award of Excellence in Education, Utah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Award for Excellence in Ethics, Utah Valley State University; and Honored Alumni of the Year, College of Humanities, Brigham Young University.
Under state law, university governing boards must name finalists for president at least 21 days before making an appointment. The Board of Regents will meet again to make the appointment, and the A&M System expects Young to begin his new duties this spring.
Statements about Michael K. Young and Texas A&M University:
James Baker III, Partner, Baker Botts, Houston
I congratulate Texas A&M for hiring Michael Young, welcome him to our state, and look forward to his distinct brand of leadership being practiced at one of the nation’s premier universities.
Robert Gates, 22nd President of Texas A&M and Former U.S. Secretary of Defense, Kansas
I congratulate Michael Young on his selection as the finalist to become the next president of Texas A&M University. In Mike Young, the Board of Regents have selected a leader of national stature in higher education as well as someone with a broad and diverse background. I am confident he will lead Texas A&M to even greater successes in the future, and I am also impressed with his focus on the needs and interests of students as well as on the research enterprise. I believe he will be a great fit for Texas A&M.
B.J. “Red” McCombs, Businessman, San Antonio
Texas A&M, you are on a roll! Congratulations on snatching the best President you could possibly ever find. You have made all of Texas proud with the announcement of President-Elect Michael Young. The Longhorns have really got their work cut out for them now. Gig ‘Em Aggies!
Dr. David Pershing, President, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City
Congratulations to Texas A&M University for attracting a highly skilled leader of higher education and an internationally regarded academic scholar. During his years as president of the University of Utah, Michael Young was responsible for advancing commercialization of faculty and student inventions, improving physical facilities, internationalizing the campus focus, increasing state legislative funding, and expansion of the medical center. He also initiated the largest capital campaign in the history of the university and paved the way for the U to join the Pac-12. President Young’s academic achievements include selection by the Distinguished Professors at the University of Utah to receive the rank of Presidential Professor. He is dedicated to the mission of higher education and is an innovative leader.
Dr. Hunter Rawlings, President, Association of American Universities, Washington, D.C.
Mike’s great strength is his experience at very strong research universities. As Dean of the George Washington University Law School and President at the University of Utah and the University of Washington, he has been at top public and private research universities in leadership positions. He is well known as a consensus builder and a fundraiser, and as someone who works effectively with political leaders. This is a strong combination of assets for a leader of a major research institution such as Texas A&M. Mike has a good deal of experience in Washington, D.C., which is also important since so much of the support for research universities comes from the federal government.
Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, President Emeritus, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
Michael Young is among the most respected leaders in higher education today. His vast experience, seasoned imagination and great human qualities make him the best in the business. Young’s appointment sends a bold message that Texas A&M aspires to take a great university and move it to the forefront of higher education in the United States and the world.
: