By Steve Gilliam , University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-5371
Posted: 2-25-08
GREENSBORO, NC - All applicants in the search to find a successor to Chancellor Patricia A. Sullivan will be kept confidential in order to interest the best candidates available in the job.
Stephen C. Hassenfelt, who is chair of the Chancellor’s Search Committee, spoke to Faculty Senate last week with an update on the search process and its timeline.
UNCG’s last chancellor search took place in 1994, producing Chancellor Patricia A. Sullivan, who took office Jan. 1, 1995. Both finalists visited the campus. Dr. Sullivan announced in December that she will retire as chancellor on July 31.
The search process for chancellors or presidents has changed in the last 14 years, Hassenfelt said. The firm Baker and Associates LLC has been engaged for the search, and its president Jerry Baker, told the committee earlier that the majority of top-level searches nationwide are now conducted confidentially – a trend that has evolved over the past decade.
The search committee voted unanimously to have a closed, confidential search when the group met more than a month ago.
“This firm will be seeking the best candidates to fill UNCG’s chancellor position, and many of the best candidates will, in fact, be successful people who are not looking to change jobs,” Hassenfelt said. “The candidates we will be going after will demand confidentiality and will only participate if the search is closed.
“We’ll be recruiting successful men and women at other institutions who would want to protect their status in their communities and on their campuses. I believe that our search would fall apart very quickly if the process is not confidential.”
Since the search started, questions have been raised with faculty and staff on the Search Committee, who are Faculty Senate Chair Kathy Crowe, Dr. Rebecca Adams, Dr. Keith Debbage, Dr. William Hart, Dr. Louise Ivanov, Dr. James Weeks and Staff Senate Chair Suzanne Williams.
“I know that a closed search runs counter to our culture at UNCG; we pride ourselves on openness and transparency,” said Crowe. “When searches reach the finalist stage here, even at the provost level, our interviews have been public. Now, however, we have a different process and timetable. In the interests of attracting the best candidates, it is clear that the Chancellor’s search must be confidential.”
Hassenfelt said he understands the concerns voiced over the confidentiality issue. In its final stages, the search will produce three finalists who will be approved in unranked order by the UNCG Board of Trustees and sent to UNC President Erskine Bowles. The anticipated end date is when Bowles submits his nominee to the UNC Board of Governors at their June 13 meeting.
“We must come up with three candidates, and two of them will not make it,” he said. “The search committee voted unanimously to have a closed search, recognizing that the people that they represented would have to put their trust in them to do the right thing for UNCG in evaluating and recruiting the best candidates.”
The search committee is quite large with 19 people representing a wide range of constituencies including the Board of Trustees, Alumni, the community and students as well as the seven faculty and staff mentioned above.
Another issue that has raised questions is the length allowed for the search. President Erskine Bowles charged the committee with conducting a search that would produce three candidates who would be approved by the Board of Trustees and forwarded to him. After interviewing the finalists, he will make a recommendation to the UNC Board of Governors for UNCG’s next chancellor.
Ann Lemmon, who is President Erskine Bowles’ liaison to the committee, said that all of the recent searches have been completed in five to six months. UNC Asheville kicked off its search on Jan. 10, 2006, and a new chancellor was named at the May BOG meeting. The School of the Arts started a search Nov. 30, 2006, and a new chancellor was named in May. N.C. Central University began its search off Feb. 26, 2007, with a new chancellor being named in June.
Two public forums have been added to provide faculty and staff with further opportunities for input on the qualities and experience they are seeking in a new chancellor:
• Faculty – Wednesday, Feb. 20, 4 p.m., Maple Room, Elliott University Center.
• Faculty and Staff – Tuesday, Feb. 26, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Alexander Room, EUC.
Web site: chancellorsearch.uncg.edu.
