Breaking ranks with a long-standing tradition to pick outsiders to lead, the University of Washington’s Board of Regents on Tuesday chose longtime UW professor and administrator Ana Mari Cauce as the university’s next president.
Cauce, a 30-year employee who climbed the university’s ranks from professor to interim president, joins a rare group among those tapped to head major American universities: A president selected from the inside.
Cauce, 59, succeeds former President Michael Young, whose abrupt departure to take a higher-paying president’s gig at Texas AM in February, left many on the UW’s governing body longing for a leader who wouldn’t use the president’s job as a steppingstone to another position elsewhere.
Ana Mari Cauce
Age: 59
Personal: Born in Cuba, left with her family during the revolution when she was 3. Grew up in Miami.
Education: Degrees in English and psychology from the University of Miami in 1977, Ph.D. in psychology from Yale University in 1984.
Work history: Joined the UW in1986 as assistant professor of psychology. Held numerous UW leadership positions, including director of the Honors Program, chair of American ethnic studies, chair of psychology, executive vice provost, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, chief academic officer and provost. Appointed interim president in 2015.
Source: University of Washington
The 10-member regents’ board officially named Cauce during a specially called meeting Tuesday afternoon.
Cauce, a provost and executive vice president who had spent nearly all of her professional career at the UW, had been temporary placeholder to the top post since March, when regents appointed her as interim president.
But as the search for a permanent president wore on, Cauce (pronounced “cow-say”) won widespread internal support for the job, with staffers praising her for a hard-earned reputation among students, faculty and staff as an approachable collaborator, workaholic devoted to the university’s issues, and a decisive leader unafraid to take risks.
“This isn’t about me,” Cauce said after the regents’ vote naming her president. “It really is about us and where we’re going together.”
Rep. Gerry Pollet, a Seattle Democrat who is the vice-chairman of the House Higher Education Committee and teaches at the UW’s School of Public Health, praised Cauce Tuesday for an “incredible depth of knowledge of the university.”
“She brings an understanding of the policy and political leadership in this state, and with it a very strong reputation,” Pollet said. “That’s very important. That’s something you don’t want your next president having to spend years to build with the higher-education leadership.”
Cauce’s appointment Tuesday marked a milestone in several ways.
Born in Havana, Cuba, she grew up in Miami in a family that fled the island nation during the Cuban revolution.
Cauce earned degrees in English and psychology from the University of Miami, and a Ph.D. in psychology, with a concentration in child clinical and community psychology, from Yale University.
She came to the Northwest about three decades ago, joining the UW’s faculty in 1986. Cauce and her spouse, Susan Joslyn, live near Seattle’s Nathan Hale High School and own a second home in Friday Harbor.
As a professor of Psychology and American Ethnic Studies, Cauce’s research and expert acumen in her disciplines won academic fans and garnered numerous awards, including the Distinguished Teaching Award, the UW’s highest faculty honor.
Cauce also has held various leadership positions, including director of the UW’s Honors Program, executive vice provost and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Named provost in 2011, Cauce was responsible for managing the university’s $6 billion budget, deciding which programs got funding and which didn’t.
With an informal demeanor described by some as warmhearted, Cauce has acknowledged she doesn’t fit the mold of the polished and pressed modern university president.
“She’s got stellar academic credentials, she knows the university inside and outside, and she’s a real human being,” said state Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle. “She connects with people across a wide-range of backgrounds and interests.”
Cauce bucked a long tradition of outsiders winning the UW’s top post. Internal candidates for college presidency jobs — administrators who perhaps have made enemies from within while climbing an institutions ranks — rarely land such jobs, experts have said.
“I think the issue is not so much as being an insider or outsider, but more of a question of known value,” said Ed Taylor, a UW vice provost and dean of undergraduate academic affairs.
“She has a known work ethic and a known commitment to the university, state and to the region … that’s respected by the faculty, staff and students. She’s going to show up in places that will really be inspiring.”
During her tenure as interim president, Cauce has spoken out against racism and homophobia, talked of supporting efforts to diversify the UW’s faculty and staff, and committed to providing more child care near campus.
At times, Cauce also has clashed with some groups at the university. She recently disappointed some professors by sending an open letter expressing reservations about a move to unionize the faculty.
Following Young’s departure, the UW formed a 28-member search committee to find the next president as part of a $160,000 search. The committee had been expected to spend this fall and winter looking for a rainmaker who not only could raise private donations and wring money from a tightfisted Legislature, but change perceptions of the UW as an arrogant, elitist institution.
Taylor, the vice provost, said Cauce’s casual and personal demeanor shapes her leadership style.
Earlier Tuesday, just hours before the regents’ announcement, Taylor said he saw Cauce walking across campus, stopping to chat with students and others.
“For her, it was business as usual,” Taylor said. “She was just out there on the Quad, showing a high degree of enthusiasm and just being present. I have no doubt she’ll be very good for the University of Washington.”