Lawmakers nominate two candidates for vacant U of M regents seat

With only two weeks left of session, lawmakers have a lot on their “to do”’ list. Among those many items is selecting a replacement for the University of Minnesota Board of Regents.

Following Regent Patricia Simmons’ decision last month to resign from the board, the House and Senate higher education committees met Monday to vet candidates and make a nomination to the joint legislative convention, scheduled to meet Thursday.

In the end, the committee couldn’t settle on one nominee and instead suspended the temporary joint rules, without opposition, and nominated both Mary Davenport from Mankato and Brooks Edwards from Rochester to proceed.

WATCH Monday's joint meeting of House and Senate higher education committees

The process differed from previous years in that the Regent Candidate Advisory Council application, screening and recommendation process was bypassed due to the time constraint. Rather, applicants went directly before the committee. However, bills currently in the House and Senate would seek to permanently eliminate the RCAC’s role in the process.

The other three candidates who presented during the hearing were Jeanne Hankerson from Owatonna, Wendy Shannon from Rochester and Randy Simonson from Worthington.

If the Legislature doesn’t choose a replacement to fill the First Congressional District seat by the end of session, May 21, Gov. Mark Dayton will temporarily appoint one until legislators act next session.  

Nominees

Davenport and Edwards have markedly different backgrounds, with Davenport’s expertise in higher education and Edwards’ expertise in health care.

During voting Sen. Scott Jensen (R-Chaska) and Sen. Jim Abeler (R-Anoka) weighted in on the nominations.

A joint committee of the House and Senate higher education committees met May 7 to nominate potential replacements for a vacant seat on the University of Minnesota Board of Regents. Photo by Paul Battaglia

“In the rules we are charged to address various things including gender balance and 9-2 is a significant imbalance,” Abeler said. 

Currently, Davenport is serving as interim president at Rochester Community and Technical College, and prior to that she served as vice president of Academic and Student Affairs at Riverland Community College in Austin, Minn.

“My motivation to serve as a regent comes from the culmination of more than three decades of addressing difficult and critical issues within higher education,” she said. “That is perhaps what differentiates me from other candidates and what I would bring to the Board of Regents. My career has taken me to literally every University of Minnesota and Minnesota State system campus across the state”

Edwards has served as president of the Mayo Staff, medical director for the Heart Transplant Program and chair of the Mayo Clinic Transplant Center.

“As a physician, I understand medicine both at the bedside and in the boardroom,” Edwards said. “As a professor, I see both the educational challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. As a researcher of cardiovascular and transplant science, I have a profound appreciation for the promise that lies at the very heart of the land grant institution. My leadership experience as president of the Mayo staff and director of our transplant center prepares me uniquely to provide the strategic guidance to carry forward the university’s mission.”

Jensen said that Edwards could offer a much-needed perspective on health care programming, which is a cornerstone of the University of Minnesota.

“I’m hopeful that, by the Mayo Clinic sharing some of its perspective, that the University of Minnesota might get its ducks in order,” he said.