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At her campus forum Thursday, Rickus also discussed the need to keep a diverse student population, stating a close relationship with high schools and community colleges will be important in maintaining diversity at the UA.

“Being a Hispanic-serving institution is one of the things that’s very exciting for me with the University of Arizona,� said Rickus, addressing the in-person crowd of over 50 UA faculty and staff and more than 300 others attending via Zoom. “So, right now when you look at all the new, true regulation, they’re really around race and protected class. But the good news is, here in Arizona, we have a very diverse state.�

Rickus, senior vice provost for teaching and learning at Purdue University, is the second of four finalists announced for the UA’s position as provost — the senior academic officer senior academic officer who oversees the faculty and the university’s academic mission — after Eric Landon Barker, also of Purdue, where he is vice president for health affairs.

The UA has not yet released the names of the other two finalists, but they are set to come to campus March 27 and March 31. Attendees of each candidate’s open forums will fill out a feedback form to be sent to UA President Suresh Garimella as he makes a final decision.

Rickus called for a university strategy of making sure there is access and opportunity for everyone, regardless of their personal experiences, backgrounds and identities. “There’s an opportunity for everyone, and this is where we might need to partner and really be close with those communities, counties, high schools, to understand what those opportunities (are) and make sure we’re not creating barriers,� she said.

A Hispanic-serving institution is federally defined as a not-for-profit institution of higher learning with undergraduate student enrollment at least 25% Hispanic.

Regarding international student enrollment, which is being affected due to , Rickus said offering clear guidance and communication to faculty, advisors, coaches and staff is important so they have the right knowledge and information to assist international students and their complicated situations. She said a “communication plan� is needed that includes not just a general email blast that goes out once in a while, but communications of information through the vice provosts and college deans.

Rickus was also asked about preserving academic freedom at the university in today’s political climate, to which she responded the UA will have to follow the law, but in a way that does not end up in what she called overcompliance, and still protects academic freedom.

“I’ve worked very closely with (Purdue’s) Office of Institutional Equity and Legal to understand the true boundaries of the law, what the law is,� said Rickus, who has been at Purdue for 22 years. “… I’ve also worked with our Center for Instructional Excellence as part of my team. This is faculty- and instructor-facing and so we brought this instructor-centeredness to it — how do we help individual instructors retain their academic freedom in what they’re teaching, and preserving the integrity of their course?�

In response to a question about supporting non-faculty staff Rickus said staff are a critical part of a university’s ecosystem and that it is important to have a good structure of jobs and pay ranges to make sure there is equity and fairness in how people are compensated.

“This is where the academic units, HR and finance need to all make sense together. You’ve got to have clear and consistent year-over-year practices and policies around promotion, around merit,� she said.

As the provost is responsible for faculty tenure and promotions, as well as balancing tenure-track and career-track faculty, Rickus said a university cannot be moving the bar on people all the time as they’re being promoted and going for tenure. It needs to have alignment between communication to faculty about priorities and expectations, how they are being evaluated, and where they are trying to go with research, she said.

When asked how she would participate in Garimella’s and Senior Vice President for Research Tomás Díaz de la Rubia’s “bold plan to grow research� with the UA’s “big national security portfolio,� Rickus said she is really excited and that great things can happen when the the research vice president and the provost work together.