Meg Itoh
Staff Writer
In light of President Grant Cornwell’s impending departure for a position at Rollins College, the Board of Trustees has formed two search committees. The first will seek an interim leader for the 2015-16 school year, and the second will be dedicated to finding a permanent successor to Cornwell, who will leave The College of Wooster on July 1.
The interim search committee is composed of five members, including three trustees, one cabinet member and one faculty member, whose names have not been released as of press time. The presidential search committee is composed of 16 members, including eight trustees, four faculty, one alumnus, one cabinet member, one staff member and one student.
The names of the second search committee’s members have been released in full and are listed in the far right column.
“My responsibility as the chair of the board was to do the appointments, said Bill Longbrake, chair of the Board of Trustees. Longbrake selected the make-up and members of both committees.
To select the faculty members of the search committee, Longbrake looked to the examples set by previous Board chairs.
“What my predecessor did for the last committee was he went to the faculty and invited them to submit four names. So I simply followed that precedent,” Longbrake said. “Mary Neagoy [Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees and Chair of both search committees] and I went to the faculty on March 2 and invited them to submit names, and they actually did that, and they elected four. All the other members of the committee were appointed by me.”
Phil Olsen, a groundskeeper and member of the Staff Committee, was appointed by Longbrake to be the staff member on the presidential search committee. “I solicited input from the hourly staff members. This was a case where there were several suggestions, so I talked to various people about qualifications, and selected Phil Olsen,” explained Longbrake.
Emily Howerton ’17 will be the one student on the presidential search committee and was chosen without input from students. “In the case of the student … what I did was I asked Dean of Students Holmes for recommendations. I looked at the list, considered the differences in the candidates, and made the choice,” said Longbrake.
Longbrake explained that choosing Howerton made sense for a number of reasons, including that she is a sophomore and will be able to see the process through to its conclusion, tentatively aimed for next December.
Howerton is a member of the Student Government Association and the Wooster Ethic Committee; she also, according to Longbrake, does not live far from Wooster, which will be key during fall meetings when she may be called to campus.
Longbrake did not reach out for student opinion when selecting the student member for the presidential search committee.
“First of all, there’s no requirement to have a student [on the committee], although that’s a smart decision — the process that I followed was to solicit input and then make a choice,” he said. “There’s no requirement to go to students and have an election, and what I wanted to do was have a good balance with gender and experience.”
Longbrake expressed that he was “interested in getting people who have the time to work on this, who would be thoughtful, good thinkers, and would reflect a wide swath of the campus – different stake holder groups, different backgrounds and input.”
However, the process could be challenging. “There’s nothing anywhere that says exactly what the composition of the committee should be. [The] point is to try to get good balance and the best possible people.”
Search committee members will communicate with the campus at large to incorporate the needs of the community into the search.
“There will be regular bulletins from me as Chair of the Search Committee which will update the campus community, alumni, parents and friends on a regular basis about the status of the search process,” explained Neagoy.
There is a strong effort to hear voices from within the College community.
Neagoy explained that the search committee will hold a series of focus groups over a few days in April, during which the members will attempt to meet with as many constituent groups from the campus and community as possible.
“These meetings will be led by our search consultant Tom Courtice of AGB Search, and members of the search committee,” said Neagoy.
“The goal of these meetings will be to gather as much information as we can about what the College community views as the important strategic issues facing Wooster and what qualities our next President needs to exhibit. These focus groups will inform the Committee’s work as we create the position profile for the President.”
Longbrake shared his stance on qualities that the next president ought to have. “First and foremost, she or he must share our passion for this extraordinary college, understand our distinctive place in American higher education, and both recognize our potential to become greater still in the coming years and have the ability to make this happen,” he said.
He also believes communication will be important for the next president. “Someone who can work collaboratively and effectively, as President Cornwell has, with faculty, staff, students, alumni and Wooster’s many friends, to articulate a shared vision for Wooster and help us together to achieve it,” said Longbrake.
According to Longbrake, the search for a new president will be a full national search. All qualified candidates will be considered, both within the College and externally.
Regarding diversity as a factor in the selection of the permanent president, Neagoy said, “The Search Committee is committed to seeking the most qualified and talented candidates that we can. We expect that our candidate pool will be large, deep and diverse in background and relevant experience.”
“We’re looking forward to hearing from the campus and talking together about what we envision for Wooster’s future. This is a very exciting time in the College’s history,” she said.