Tuesday, April 28, 2009
After Chancellor Robert Hemenway announced in early December that he would step down from his position at the University, a search committee began seeking nominations from students, staff and community members to find the best and brightest to fill his shoes.
Adam McGonigle, student body president and the only student who sits on the search committee for a new chancellor, said he received several e-mail nominations from students. Of those, he said Barack Obama and Bill Cosby were among the leading vote getters, along with a few self-nominations from ambitious students.
“I can confirm that Barack Obama is not going to be the new chancellor,” McGonigle said. “But the way I thought about it was every Monday morning we could get all the students together in Memorial Stadium and have a discussion with Chancellor Cosby.”
All jokes aside, McGonigle said he had also received a good number of serious suggestions from students. He said he hoped to bring a unique perspective to the committee.
“I don’t think there’s any one issue that I would advocate for more than the other members of the board,” McGonigle said. “I may be the only student on that committee, but I’m not the only student advocate. Every member of that board is focused first and foremost on what is best for the student body.”
The committee has finished the application and nomination process and is now working to narrow the field of about 160 applicants to about 10.
“We’ve gathered a great amount of information about people and now it’s time to meet them and be able to interview them and talk to them,” said Drue Jennings, search committee chair and former CEO of Kansas Power & Light. “That’s a very critical piece of the process, and we look forward to doing that.”
Jennings said the committee would like to begin interviewing those 10 candidates by May.
According to an advertisement in the “Chronicle of Higher Education”, the committee is looking to hire someone who has demonstrated exemplary leadership.
“It is expected that candidates will have impeccable integrity, strategic vision, a high energy level, excellent interpersonal and communication skills and everyday common sense,” the advertisement says.
Jennings said that after the interviews, the committee would narrow the candidates to about five finalists to recommend to the Kansas Board of Regents, which would make the final decision.
It is the committee’s goal to have the new chancellor take office July 1, the day after Hemenway officially steps down. However, Kip Peterson, a spokesperson for the Kansas Board of Regents, said it was a possibility that a new chancellor would not be named until Fall 2009. He could not say whether there was a plan in place to name someone to cover those duties during the interim.
“That’s just a question that will have to be answered in the coming months,” Peterson said. “It’s a little premature to speculate at this point.”
The chancellor has the responsibility to name the next provost, so the search for a replacement for Provost Richard Lariviere will not begin until after the next chancellor takes office. Jennings said the open provost position would in no way affect the committee’s line of questioning for chancellor candidates.
— — Edited by Susan Melgren
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