Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Andrew Comrie has stepped down, effective immediately, according to a statement from University of Arizona President Dr. Robert Robbins. He will retain his position of tenured professor in the School of Geography and Development.

Comrie, who has been at the UA in some capacity since 1992, oversaw all academic programs not affiliated with health sciences since being appointed Provost in July 2012. 

In his statement to the UA community via email, Robbins was laudatory of Comrie’s time as Provost: “Andrew’s accomplishments include leading a fundamental budget redesign that expanded transparency and implemented responsibility centered management,” Robbins said.

Replacing Comrie will be Jeffrey B. Goldberg, Dean of the College of Engineering. Although Comrie’s resignation is immediate, Goldberg will officially be installed “no later than March 5, 2018,” Robbins said.

A search for a permanent replacement could take time. 

“Usually these national searches can take a while,” confirmed UA spokesman Chris Sigurdson.

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Earlier in the day, Comrie had been named in a federal class-action lawsuit against the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of former Honors College Dean Patricia MacCorquodale. 

The lawsuit alleges Comrie was “perpetuating ‘a culture that marginalizes, demeans and undervalues women.'”

One of MacCorquodale’s attorneys, James Richardson, said that he couldn’t speak to the particulars of Comrie’s resignation, but that he “didn’t want to speculate why the provost stepped down four hours after the suit was filed.”

The two announcements are not tied together, according to Sigurdson. “His stepping down and the lawsuit announcement are not related,” he said.

According to both Sigurdson and Robbins’ statement, Comrie’s decision to step down had been in the works for some time. 

“Comrie informed me just after the New Year that he had decided to step down from his position,” Robbins said.

The Daily Wildcat made multiple times for comment from Comrie for this article. As of publication, he had not responded.

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