Arizona
This is not the way to keep University of Arizona spending in check
Opinion: The University of Arizona’s financial crisis points to the need for greater oversight. A bill headed to the governor takes it away.
University of Arizona financial crisis could take 3 years to fix, officials say
Multiple University of Arizona school officials have stepped down amongst the school’s ongoing financial crisis.
The University of Arizona’s recent administrative blunders resulting in a financial crisis suggest a need for more oversight of university governance, but a measure that the Arizona Legislature sent the governor last week would reduce such oversight.
Aside from its strange timing, House Bill 2735 would tie the hands of future university presidents in a way that contradicts good management practice.
The Senate and House passed this Republican bill with party-line votes, even though it undermines traditional Republican goals.
Neither the state Board of Regents nor any of the three universities officially supported the bill (but legislators from both parties claimed it was promoted by individuals connected to the outgoing UA administration).
The governor should veto the legislation, which, given the University of Arizona’s recent history, moves in exactly the wrong direction.
UA’s Faculty Senate provides needed oversight
The central provision of HB 2735 states: “A university president may not delegate the president’s authority to approve academic degrees or organizational units.”
At the University of Arizona, the Faculty Senate is the last step in the approval chain, before a proposed new academic degree or program goes to the Regents for final approval.
The University of Arizona has created scores of new degrees and programs in recent years, sometimes at considerable expense.
The Faculty Senate initiates none of these programs. They come from administration, either central administration or from the 20-odd individual colleges, such as Science, Humanities and Medicine.
This Senate has never, in recent memory, blocked any of the administration’s proposals.
The bill thus eliminates an authority that the Faculty Senate rarely, if ever, exercises. In 2023, for example, the UA administration proposed 28 new degrees and programs. The Senate approved 26 immediately; the remaining two were eventually approved.
The problem is that the bill also ends an important public mechanism for the oversight of a college administration that clearly needs oversight.
People with skin the game should review ideas
The board of a private corporation is accountable to shareholders who have a financial stake in the firm’s performance.
In Arizona, the politically appointed Regents have the challenging task of supervising three large and independently led entities, with no shareholders standing behind them to hold the Regents themselves accountable.
Republicans should recognize that bureaucrats spending billions of other people’s dollars — taxpayer and tuition dollars — need oversight. The UA Faculty Senate, through its public meetings and documents, provides one layer of useful oversight.
Last December, the Faculty Senate held a spirited discussion about, and publicly posted much information about, a proposed “Global MD” degree. After a $14 million startup cost, this program would send students to Australia for medical training, with a special emphasis on Indigenous medical practices.
Board of Regents: Did little to stop UA scandal
Faculty senators asked whether Arizona, and the students themselves, would get a reasonable return on investment. Following this discussion, the Senate approved the program on a split vote, but the Regents have (so far) declined to grant final approval.
In this and similar cases, Faculty Senate oversight is useful.
This bill undercuts UA. Hobbs should veto it
Neither the faculty nor the Legislature wants money wasted on projects that are poorly conceived or weakly managed, on a bloated and self-protecting administrative class, or on priorities that leave behind the Arizona students and families who provide most of the universities’ funding.
Other states recognize the useful role played by faculty governance. In the highly regarded university systems of North Carolina and Texas, for example, faculty governance plays a larger role than at the University of Arizona.
Finally, HB 2735 takes the remarkable step of prohibiting a university president from delegating any of his or her authority on program and degree approvals.
Effective management of any large organization requires sensible delegation of authority. The Legislature should respect a university president’s discretion to implement good and common management practice.
In HB 2735, the Republican majorities have approved a bill that undercuts their own priorities. Gov. Katie Hobbs can do them a favor by vetoing it.
Ethan Orr is a former Republican state lawmaker and teaches at the University of Arizona’s College of Agriculture, Life, and Environmental Sciences. Mark Stegeman is a faculty member of UA’s Eller College of Management and a UA faculty senator. Reach them at eorr@arizona.edu and stegeman@arizona.edu.
Arizona
NAU launches first-of-its-kind engineering degree to fast-track Arizona’s future workforce – The NAU Review
As Arizona’s semiconductor and advanced manufacturing industries continue to grow at a rapid pace, Northern Arizona University’s Steve Sanghi College of Engineering is launching a new degree program designed to help meet the state’s workforce needs.
Beginning this fall, NAU will offer a Bachelor of Professional Studies in Engineering Technology, a flexible, workforce-focused degree pathway that prepares students for careers in microelectronics, semiconductors and advanced manufacturing in as little as three years. The 90-credit bachelor’s degree creates a more accessible pathway into engineering careers through a hands-on, applied curriculum and a streamlined transfer model with Arizona community colleges.
The program follows a 45-45 completion structure, allowing students to complete 45 credits at a community college and 45 credits through NAU. Courses will be delivered through synchronous remote instruction at NAU’s North Valley campus in Phoenix and at Pima Community College in Tucson, increasing access for statewide students.
Addressing Arizona’s growing semiconductor workforce
Designed with workforce readiness in mind, the program emphasizes practical engineering application, systems implementation, testing, quality control, systems analysis, manufacturing, fabrication, process control and project management. Students will gain technical and problem-solving skills aligned with the needs of Arizona’s rapidly evolving manufacturing economy.
“This new bachelor’s degree empowers students to identify real-world engineering challenges and develop practical solutions,” said James Palmer, associate dean for academic affairs at the Steve Sanghi College of Engineering. “We are creating a more accessible pathway into engineering careers while preparing graduates to support Arizona’s growing microelectronics and semiconductor industry.”
Arizona has emerged as one of the nation’s fastest-growing semiconductor hubs, with more than $200 billion in semiconductor-related investments announced in the Greater Phoenix region since 2020, including expansions from Intel, TSMC and Amkor Technology. TSMC alone has committed up to $165 billion toward Arizona operations, including multiple fabrication plants and advanced packaging facilities expected to create thousands of technical and manufacturing jobs.
Industry demand continues to grow for professionals with applied engineering and advanced manufacturing skills in areas such as process engineering, manufacturing systems, equipment operations and yield enhancement. NAU’s new degree program was developed to help students quickly enter these high-demand career fields while supporting Arizona’s long-term economic growth and domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity.
The program also aligns with NAU’s strategic commitment to expanding access to affordable, student-centered educational opportunities that prepare graduates for meaningful careers and long-term success.
Students interested in learning more about the Bachelor of Professional Studies in Engineering Technology program should contact SCE@nau.edu.
PHOENIX (AP) — The two Republican congressmen running for Arizona governor pitched themselves at a debate Wednesday as the only candidate with broad enough voter appeal to unseat Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs amid the state’s affordability struggles.
U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, who is the GOP primary’s frontrunner and has the endorsement of President Donald Trump, portrayed himself as being able to cross party lines and having the right experience to be the state’s chief executive.
“There’s not a doubt in my mind, if you look at the polling data that you’re going to find, I am the most competitive with Katie Hobbs of anybody on this stage in any Republican in the state,” Biggs said.
U.S. Rep. David Schweikert, who has survived three tough Democratic challenges in recent years, believes his focus on government finances and his drive to bring new business to the state make him the singular Republican candidate.
“These are wonderful people, but they’ve never actually been in the great battle,” Schweikert said of Biggs and two other Republican opponents.
Businessman Scott Neely, who ran an unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 2022, said after the debate that if Biggs wins the primary, Republicans will lose the election.
The winner of the July 21 primary will face Hobbs, who’s running unopposed in the primary.
Biggs has served five terms in the U.S. House, representing a heavily GOP district in the eastern Phoenix suburbs and serving at one time as chairman of the ultra-right U.S. House Freedom Caucus.
Before that, Biggs served in the Arizona Legislature from 2003 through 2016, including four years as president of the state Senate. He battled with then-Republican Gov. Jan Brewer on a Medicaid expansion in 2013 and pushed school choice measures and bills targeting abortion providers.
Biggs is one of Trump’s top defenders in Congress and supported Trump’s false claims the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.
Schweikert, a budget hawk known for railing against government debt, has represented an affluent district that includes parts of northeast Phoenix and Scottsdale for eight terms. He served in the Arizona House in the 1990s and as Maricopa County’s treasurer in the 2000s.
Schweikert has focused his congressional career on sounding the alarm about the federal budget deficit and the ballooning U.S. debt, often in late-night speeches to a nearly empty House chamber and bleary-eyed C-SPAN viewers. Schweikert has praised Trump’s 2017 tax cuts but has called for more spending cuts to reduce federal borrowing.
His reputation was tarnished by ethics scandals. In 2022, he received a $125,000 fine by the Federal Election Commission for misappropriating campaign funds. Two years prior, he agreed to pay a $50,000 fine and accept 11 campaign finance violations after an investigation by the U.S. House Committee on Ethics. In his last three general campaigns for Congress, Schweikert staved off challenges from Democrats. Biggs voiced support for Arizona’s recent passage of a three-year moratorium on tax incentives for new data centers – a move Hobbs also has touted. “They shouldn’t be given a break,” Biggs said, noting the large amounts of power and water that data centers use.
Schweikert bemoaned Arizona’s unfavorable affordability rankings as “pretty miserable,” but said consumer prices don’t come down magically. He vowed to aggressively recruit businesses to Arizona and push for wage growth.
Both congressmen were asked about the expired healthcare subsidies for those getting coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
“We’re going to have to deal with the reality of subsidization of everything in the economy is not going to work,” Schweikert said.
Biggs said he introduced legislation in Congress to bring down healthcare costs and also voiced support for Trump’s proposal to send money directly to Americans for health savings accounts so they can handle insurance and health costs as they see fit.
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