This story was reported and written by VPM News.
The University of Virginia's Board of Visitors announced law professor Paul Mahoney as the public university's interim president in a meeting on Monday.
Mahoney, who has been a member of the UVA School of Law faculty since 1990 and served as its dean from 2008–16, will hold the role while the board conducts a nationwide search for a permanent successor to Jim Ryan.
Ryan departed July 11 after unexpectedly announcing his resignation in late June, amid a pressure campaign from the US Department of Justice over an investigation into UVA's diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
During the open session portion of the meeting, UVA Rector Rachel Sheridan said that the board has been working “tirelessly to provide stability during this time of transition.” “We have appointed a balanced and representative search committee for the next president of UVA that includes a wide array of voices from every stakeholder group in our community. It is important to us that we hear from all of these voices and we choose a new leader for UVA who will exemplify the very best of our mission and values,” Sheridan said.
Catherine Lindqvist, director of UVA’s Executive Search Group, and John Kosky, the university’s chief human resources officer, presented to the board the community engagement and nomination process that the university went through before selecting Mahoney as interim president. “The process was designed to be transparent, inclusive and anchored in the values that defines UVA,” Kosky said.
University leaders held a series of listening sessions with stakeholders including faculty, staff, students and alumni to get their input on, among other things, what UVA’s top priorities should be for the upcoming academic year and which leadership qualities they believed to be most important.
“There was a clear desire for an experienced academic leader with deep knowledge of UVA,” Lindqvist said. “The community is asking for an interim president who is strategic, empathetic, transparent, and above all, trustworthy; someone who can unite and lead through a complex period of transition.”
The search, which Sheridan said would likely start officially in late August or early September, takes place against a contentious political backdrop on the state and federal levels.
George Mason University's Board of Visitors chose last week to retain President Gregory Washington, who faculty members feared the board might vote to remove as the federal government investigates hiring practices at the Northern Virginia university.
Last month, nine Democrats in the state Senate sued the rectors at three universities — GMU, UVA and the Virginia Military Institute — saying it was illegal for eight board members appointed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, but rejected by a Senate committee, to participate in board activities.
One of the eight appointees — Ken Cuccinelli, a former Virginia attorney general and US Department of Homeland Security official — was not present at the UVA board meeting following a Fairfax County judge’s opinion barring the rejected appointees from serving while the court case moves forward.