Correction appended.
As time draws closer to the presidential search committee’s announcement of a candidate list, senates on campus are increasing involvement in the selection process.
The Board of Trustees has met with the university’s search firm Witt/Kieffer multiple times and discussed what the senate feels are desirable traits in a president for Ohio University, Student Trustee Brooke Mauro said.
The search firm has been compiling names up to this point and getting together resumes of candidates. Next, the search committee will conduct airport interviews, in which the university flies in candidates to interview at or near an airport, with the search committee.
“After the airport interviews, we will narrow it down to maybe three to seven people and once we get that narrowed down we will probably bring those candidates to campus to interview with the Board of Trustees,” Mauro said. “We aim for March to see the announcement of the next president, we are hopeful.”
Transparency and meeting the university’s needs in the selection are two of the most crucial aspects of the presidential search process for the senates on campus, senate members said.
“I don’t know if in the past Group II faculty have specifically been involved but (since) our last presidential search well over 10 years ago, numbers have increased,” Chris Schwirian, a Group II faculty senator, said. “The growth of our student body, combined with reductions of state-share funding, has caused a number of changes, many of which have resulted in favoring of hiring Group II faculty since then.”
The continuation of open forums is one way feedback can be immediately communicated, Mauro said.
“We’ve discussed what we want, what we like about President McDavis, things that make OU unique that … we need someone capable of facilitating all these different things,” Mauro said. “That’s been going great.”
Graduate Student Senate recently passed a resolution reiterating that graduate students on campus think that transparency and open forums are important, Ian Armstrong, Graduate Student Senate president, said. Board of Trustees Chair David Wolfort said the board still intends on having presidential search forums to maintain the transparency of the process, Armstrong said.
“Anyone can still submit comments to the email,” Armstrong said. “There’s ability for feedback to go in but I’d say less ability for feedback to go back out. There will be an opportunity to have interaction between the presidential candidates and the Ohio (University) community.”
Presidential contracts tend to be large in value compared to faculty contracts, Schwirian said.
“I really want to make sure we are getting good value,” Schwirian said. “I mean, if we get someone who has a ton of experience and be able to do X, Y and Z to make the university better, then they’re worth paying a lot, but if they’re a president who’s coming in more as a caretaker and is really going to continue doing the same, I hope that the Board of Trustees doesn’t just provide whatever contract the person requests.”
Both groups of faculty members communicate with Faculty Senate Chair Joe McLaughlin, a member of the presidential search committee. Student Senate works with those on the search committee, including some Student Senate members involved in the search, to find out more about the process.
“They are kind of the liaison between Student Senate and the search committee and the search firm,” Mauro said.
Schwirian said he hopes the board and search committee consider what all university groups would like to see in a new president.
“I don’t know if what I consider to be an outstanding president would be what the Board of Trustees would, and I’m not saying that they’re right or I’m wrong, it’s probably somewhere in between,” Schwirian said. “From my perspective, I really want someone who supports teaching and wise decisions for the university. The Board of Trustees is more likely to be interested in someone who’s going to be able to go out and get funding for the university … which is a really critical role for the president.”
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated who has been compiling names of candidates, who will interview the candidates, who thinks transparency is important and that Student Senate has no immediate plans to meet with top candidates. The article has been updated to reflect the most accurate information.
Clarification: The article has been clarified to say that some Student Senate members are involved both in senate and the search committee.
