Search committee forms position profile for new president

Having already met in mid-July, the search committee tasked with replacing President Edward Ayers will reconvene Sept. 18 to continue developing a presidential position profile, said Allison Weinstein, co-chair of the search committee.

During the inchoate stages of this process, members of the committee are forming a position profile so they can finally send it out as a formal advertisement, Weinstein said. Once the profile is completed, Witt/Kieffer, the search firm that has been chosen to assist the committee, will help the committee build a pool of possible candidates and nominees.

This is not the first time the university has worked with Witt/Kieffer. The university collaborated with them this past year to find the new provost, Jacquelyn S. Fetrow, Weinstein said.

“Witt/Kieffer knows what the school landscape looks like,” said Mia Hagerty, a Westhampton College student representative on the committee.

Alex Holva, Richmond College ‘15, is representing the student body on the committee as well. Holva said the board needed to be aware of what the students wanted and he hoped students would be open with him.

“They [board of trustees] wanted to have the voice of the students,” Dean Joseph Boehman said. “The students that are being represented are going to do everything they can to get the input from the student body.”

Boehman said he and Dean Juliette Landphair had each submitted recommendations for the person who would represent the student body well. After they had talked about what kind of representation they wanted to see on the search committee, Boehman and Landphair recommended Holva and Hagerty, respectively.

There are also 16 other representatives from the university’s faculty, staff, alumni and the board on the committee. Trustee Paul Queally is among them.

“With respect to Mr. Queally’s comments made in February, I certainly disagree with the views those comments expressed,” Weinstein said. “But I believe he will be a very constructive member. As he assured in his apology in February, he shares the board’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.

“Mr. Queally has held significant responsibility on behalf of the board and the university, and the board values his leadership and commitment to the university," she said.

Stephen Portch, Chancellor Emeritus of the University System of Georgia, helped the board establish the search committee this past summer, Weinstein said. He will also be advising the board and the committee throughout the search just as he did in the search that recruited Ayers.

Although Ayers will step down as president June 30, 2015, he will stay on campus to continue his historical research.

Hagerty said she knew Ayers was passionate about history from taking his First Year Seminar, Touching the Past.

“He wants to do all these things with regards to digitizing history and using technology,” she said. “He does free podcasts and radio appearances. I think he wants to focus more on those things, and I’m really happy that he’s going to be able to do that.”

Dean Landphair also expressed her sentiment about Ayers.

“It’s the right decision for him professionally,” she said. “The institution is in a much better place. It makes sense for him to open the position to someone else now and see where that person can take us.”

The committee is aiming to forward finalists to the board in the spring to make the final selection, but there is no set date, Weinstein said. The board anticipates the new president to take office July 1, 2015, after Ayers completes his term.

“We want someone who is different but can still shine just as equally in their own way,” Hagerty said. “We need someone who isn’t going to be afraid to succeed Dr. Ayers, but instead someone who adds their own legacy.”

Contact staff writer Alyssa Gunville at alyssa.gunville@richmond.edu