The University of Alaska system will have a new president this summer. The Board of Regents appointed Fairbanks attorney Matt Cooper to the role Friday morning. He formerly served as general counsel for the university.
Cooper will succeed President Pat Pitney, who will retire later this month.
Pitney said during Friday’s emergency Regents meeting she’s pleased with the selection and called Cooper a “genuine leader.”
“It makes my stepping down, although always difficult and bittersweet, but makes my stepping down so much easier, knowing Matt’s going to take on the mantle for the University of Alaska,” Pitney said.
Cooper has been an attorney with a private law firm Davis Wright Tremaine LLP since 2024. Before that, he worked for the university’s general counsel office for 13 years. He spent the last four years of his tenure with the university as the top legal officer.
Cooper was also a member of the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly from 2015 to 2022 and chaired the Assembly’s ethics board for two years after that, according to his resume.
The Board of Regents went through a closed process to find a new president after Pitney announced her retirement last November. According to a university press release, a hiring committee vetted more than 50 applicants and recommended three finalists.
Student, faculty, staff and leadership representatives from each campus confidentially met with each finalist and gave feedback to the board. University of Alaska Fairbanks faculty formally opposed the non-transparent process in a resolution in March.
Jonathon Taylor, the university’s director of public affairs, said in an interview with KTOO the process balanced getting stakeholder input with protecting the confidentiality of candidates.
“We’ve seen in higher education generally, there is a tendency for people who are currently in positions at other universities, whether that be other university presidents or chancellors or deans, to not want to participate if there’s going to be a public finalist evaluation process,” Taylor said.
He said a public process can create risk for candidates that are not selected and impact their careers in the long term.
Regent Karen Purdue said the confidential feedback from university community members helped inform the board’s decision.
“One of the things that I felt was so important with the comments about Matt was pretty much a broad agreement that he’s a very good listener, he’s a very collaborative individual,” Purdue said. “That … has been his history at the university.”
Cooper’s starting compensation package will be $429,600, which is about $2,000 greater than Pitney’s $427,565 package for this year. His $420,000 base salary is more than $24,000 greater than Pitney’s.
Taylor, with the university, said the main difference between base salary and the compensation package as a whole is that Pitney receives a housing allowance and Cooper will not.
Pitney’s last day is May 21. Cooper’s expected first day is Aug. 3. Vice President of University Relations Michelle Rizk will serve as the interim president in between.
