Update (July 13, 8:12 p.m.): A source close to the UT System has confirmed to The Daily Texan both McRaven and Fisher are candidates for the chancellor position.
Original Story (July 12): Naval Adm. William McRaven and Richard Fisher, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, are among the finalists to for the UT System chancellor position, according to media reports on Friday.
Outgoing Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa announced his resignation in February, launching a search for his replacement. Paul Foster, Board of Regents chairman, has said he hopes to find Cigarroa’s successor before the start of fall 2014 semester. At a regents meeting on Thursday, Foster said several candidates have been interviewed for the position.
The news was first reported by Paul Burka of Texas Monthly on Friday. The Austin American-Statesman and The Dallas Morning News reports cited unnamed sources. UT System spokeswoman Karen Adler declined to comment.
According to the Dallas Morning News, Kyle Janek, state health and human services executive commissioner and reportedly Gov. Rick Perry’s choice for the position, is also a finalist.
McRaven is commander of U.S. Special Operations Command and is known for leading the mission that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. Before becoming a Navy SEAL, McRaven graduated from UT with a journalism degree in 1977.
In May, he delivered the commencement address at the University, sharing live lessons he learned from basic training.
“If take you take some risks, step up when the times are toughest, face down the bullies, lift up the downtrodden and never, ever give up – if you do these things, then next generation and the generations that follow will live in a world far better than the one we have today,” McRaven said.
A video of the speech on YouTube has received over 2 million views.
Fisher, who is not a UT graduate, became head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas in 2005.
In 1993, Fisher won the Democratic primary in a special election to fill Lloyd Bentsen’s vacate Senate seat. Fisher lost to Kay Bailey Hutchison, the current Texas Exes president, in the general election.
Fisher himself served in President Bill Clinton’s administration as deputy U.S. trade representative from 1997 to 2001. He serves on one of Harvard University’s governing boards and has served on the board of directors of the UT Investment Management Company, better known as UTIMCO.
