{"id":51,"date":"2026-05-14T16:07:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingtoalaskausa.com\/?p=51"},"modified":"2026-05-14T16:07:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:07:22","slug":"university-of-alaska-board-of-regents-announce-new-university-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingtoalaskausa.com\/?p=51","title":{"rendered":"University of Alaska Board of Regents announce new university president"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The University of Alaska Board of Regents announced Matt Cooper as the new university president on Friday, after a closed-door, confidential hiring search.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Cooper is a Fairbanks-based attorney, and formerly served as legal representation for the university starting in 2011 and later as <\/span>general counsel<\/span> to the university from 2021 to 2024. <\/span><\/p>\n

He will replace Pat Pitney, who <\/span>announced her retirement<\/span> in November, after 30 years of public service and five years as university president. She is planning to step down later this month. The regents said Cooper will begin his term on August 3.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The board appointed <\/span>Michelle Rizk<\/span>, vice president of university relations and chief strategy, planning and budget officer, to serve as interim president during the transition period from May 22 to August.<\/span><\/p>\n

Following an executive session Friday, the board voted unanimously to select Cooper. Board of Regents Chair Scott Jepsen said after the vote that Copper was selected from among 50 candidates. <\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Alaska legislators approve update for law that allows data sharing between hospitals<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former University of Alaska general counsel Matt Cooper will begin his new role in early August, replacing Pat Pitney.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nUniversity of Alaska Board of Regents announce new university president - Moving to Alaska<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movingtoalaskausa.com\/?p=51\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"University of Alaska Board of Regents announce new university president - Moving to Alaska\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former University of Alaska general counsel Matt Cooper will begin his new role in early August, replacing Pat Pitney.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movingtoalaskausa.com\/?p=51\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving to Alaska\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-14T16:07:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movingtoalaskausa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/8fd38ed138d8b928500d37460b0acbd4.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1340\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1090\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/?p=51#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/?p=51\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4a34ab8aa99bbfe6b285ea9b5fa35a5a\"},\"headline\":\"University of Alaska Board of Regents announce new university president\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-14T16:07:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/?p=51\"},\"wordCount\":198,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/?p=51#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/8fd38ed138d8b928500d37460b0acbd4.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/?p=51#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/?p=51\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingtoalaskausa.com\\\/?p=51\",\"name\":\"University of Alaska Board of Regents announce new university president - 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