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By Keith J. Allen
Arizona Daily Wildcat
August 23, 1996
1990 - The Arizona Board of Regents begins planning for enrollment growth up to the year 2000.
1992 - A regents-approved consulting firm submits a report on enrollment growth that recommends a new campus. The regents appoint a Commission on Public Higher Education Enrollment Growth Planning.
Oct. 28-29, 1993 - The board approves a 1994-95 legislative budget request of $2,061,300 to proceed with planning for the new campus in Pima County. (The legislature appropriates $1.5 million for the 1995 fiscal year.)
1993 - The Commission on Public Higher Education Enrollment Growth Planning reports to regents and also recommends a new campus. University of Arizona president Manuel Pacheco appoints the Community Advisory Committee to help develop the vision for the new campus.
July 27, 1994 - The regents approve plans for a new, four-year institution in Pima County, to be affiliated initially with the UA, but to operate separately from the Main Campus. The temporary name, "New Campus in Pima County," is employed.
Summer 1994 - The regents receive the report from the Community Advisory Committee and approve the mission statement and guiding principles for New Campus.
Sept. 8, 1994 - The regents approve a unique mission and guiding principles for New Campus.
Sept. 9, 1994 - The regents approve the 1995-96 legislative budget request of $3.5 million for New Campus. (The legislature appropriates $1.9 million for the 1996 fiscal year.)
Oct. 27, 1994 - The regents approve Pacheco's appointment of Celestino Fern'ndez as executive vice president and provost of New Campus.
Fall 1994 - A temporary logo, designed by UA undergraduate Shari Rykowski, is selected for the campus.
Winter 1994-95 - Fern'ndez appoints the Academic Planning Advisory Committee, and the first meeting of the Associates (community support group) is held.
March 10, 1995 - Pacheco informs the regents that a one-year lease agreement has been signed for space in The Historic Old Pueblo Club Building, to be used as temporary administrative and planning offices for New Campus. The original lease period is March 1, 1995 to Feb. 29, 1996.
The city of Tucson presents a proposal to the regents for locating New Campus downtown. It is decided that the UA will hire an independent external consultant to evaluate three possible permanent locations for the new campus - existing buildings at the UA Science and Technology Park, undeveloped land at the UA Science and Technology Park and the Rio Nuevo-South site in downtown Tucson.
Spring 1995 - Fern'ndez appoints a Human Resources Planning Team and the National Advisory Board to review the draft of academic plan.
Aug. 25, 1995 - Fern'ndez and Gregory S. Prince, chair of the National Advisory Board, present the proposed academic plan, as developed by the Academic Planning Advisory Committee, to the Board of Regents at its regular meeting.
Summer 1995 - Results of an outside evaluation provide a recommendation for the site of New Campus.
August and September 1995 - The New Campus planning and developing team interviews finalists for additional key positions on the team in the areas of academic planning, faculty and student recruitment, development, financial management and computer support. Seven new professionals, most of whom start in the fall of 1995, are hired.
September 1995 - The downtown site is considered for the New Campus.
Sept. 28-29, 1995 - The regents approve the 1996-97 budget request of $2.6 million for New Campus. (The legislature appropriates $2.1 million for the 1997 fiscal year.)
October 1995 - The regents vote unanimously against the downtown site. Pacheco says the site has "severe limitations."
Oct. 26, 1995 - The regents approve identifying an interim site for New Campus. The board also reserves 100 acres at the UA Science and Technology Park as a potential permanent site.
Also, the regents approve having New Campus proceed to develop its academic programs and curricula based on the academic plan presented to the regents on Aug. 25, 1996.
Nov. 28, 1995 - The New Campus is officially named "Arizona International University." During its early years, however, it will be referred to as the "Arizona International Campus of the University of Arizona."
Fall 1995 - Recruitment for the first AIC class begins.
January 1996 -The regents vote to give AIC faculty multiyear contracts rather than tenure. Controversy erupts as the UA Faculty Senate votes to support a tenure system at AIC, in opposition to the vote of the regents. The board decides to temporarily locate AIC in the UASTP, at South Rita Road and Interstate 10.
Jan. 12, 1996 - The regents authorize the UA to develop AIC, on an interim basis, in space at the UASTP.
The regents also approve faculty contracts of one to five years, without a tenure system.
February 1996 - AIC is threatened with loss of recognition from the UA Faculty Senate because of differences in philosophies about tenure, curriculum and accreditation.
March 1996 - The UA Faculty Senate votes to require AIC to follow UA policies, and withholds approval of New Campus. Faculty Sen. Edward Williams says, "The vote not to approve AIC is an expression of the UA faculty's lack of confidence in the administration of AIC."
AIC begins accepting admission applications for the fall of 1996.
April 1996 - AIC receives only 48 applications for an expected class of 100 students. The application deadline is extended.
The South Rita Road and Interstate 10 site is questioned by AIC's National Advisory Board because of its distance from Tucson. Housing is still being arranged for AIC students.
April 26, 1996 - The board approves the beginning process for separate accreditation.
Spring 1996 - AIC begins the process for separate accreditation.
May 1996 - The AIC administration hires five faculty members for a total of eight, full-time teachers.
May 31, 1996 - The regents approve the curriculum plan and authorize AIC to begin with six degree choices.
The regents also cap AIC's enrollment at 5,000, in order to truly create a small liberal arts institution, and decide to review AIC's enrollment progress in May 1999. They also ask AIC planners to submit a draft assessment plan by the end of 1996.
July 3, 1996 - The board holds a special meeting and approves the sublease between the Campus Research Corporation and the regents for the use of Building 40 by the AIC.
July 1996 - During the first week of July, new faculty arrive and attend a special, two-day orientation, and AIC personnel move to their new home - UASTP, 9000 S. Rita Road, Building 40.
Information for this timeline was collected from Arizona International University documents and past Arizona Daily Wildcat articles.
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