Statement on President Cauce’s Plans to Step Down as President in 2025

June 12, 2024

The following is a statement from David Zeeck, Chair of the University of Washington Board of Regents, on behalf of the Board:

Ana Mari Cauce is an outstanding president, who has led the UW through some of the most tumultuous times in its history. She has advanced the University’s public mission through partnerships with legislators, civic leaders, and the philanthropic community. Her forthright, authentic approach to leadership, her commitment to the public good, and her dedication to students have been evident throughout her four decades at the UW. Her dedication to inclusion and belonging, manifested in her Race & Equity Initiative, was well ahead of similar efforts. Her advocacy for interdisciplinary scholarship on population health was similarly prescient, and evident in the UW’s prominent contributions to human welfare during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Few university presidents now serve so long as ten years. The University has been fortunate to have Ana Mari in this position since 2015. Regents have known since she signed her second contract in 2019 that she planned to step down as president in the summer of 2025 at the end of her second term. With her endorsement, in March of this year, the Board began preparations for a presidential search in the coming academic year by hiring a search advisory firm, SP&A Associates. We look forward to listening to members of the UW community as we develop a leadership profile to guide the search—and to Ana Mari’s continued leadership in the coming year.