Dear members of the Wright State University Community:
On behalf of the WSU Presidential Search and Screening Advisory Committee (S-SAC), I am writing to update you on progress in our search for Wright State University’s seventh president.
At its most recent meeting, on August 18th, the S-SAC selected Academic Search, an executive search firm dedicated to serving higher education institutions, to assist WSU with this important search. We are pleased to work with Dr. Jerry M. Israel and Dr. Mac A. Stewart, who will serve as senior consultants on this engagement.
Dr. Israel joined Academic Search in 2014 after facilitating searches and placements for the Registry of College and University Presidents. He is the former president of the University of Indianapolis and Morningside College and a veteran higher education leader with a wide array of expertise.
Dr. Stewart spent more than 40 years serving The Ohio State University in a variety of leadership positions and retired in 2010 as the special assistant to the president for diversity and vice provost. He joined Academic Search that same year and will serve the WSU search from Columbus, Ohio.
WSU’s search committee conducted a thorough and thoughtful competitive process before selecting Academic Search. The S-SAC was impressed with the firm’s long track record of successful searches, their dedication to diversity in higher education (both in candidate pools and within their own firm), and their commitment to excellence in higher education.
The S-SAC will soon meet with the consultants from Academic Search to develop a detailed work plan for the search. This work plan will include a calendar of search events and critical dates and will be made available on WSU’s search website at wright.edu/presidential-search.
The S-SAC will soon begin the critical “Learning Phase” of our search. In this phase the S-SAC will reach out to a broad variety of WSU stakeholders and other interested parties to gain perspective on the qualities we should focus on for our next president. A variety of methods will be used to gather this feedback, including personal conversations, forums, web-based surveys, etc.
We are particularly excited about a Presidential Symposium to be held on WSU’s campus in October. The purpose is for the S-SAC to hear a discussion among higher education experts, including current presidents of other Ohio universities, about the qualifications and attributes WSU should consider in candidates for president. The symposium will be open to the public and the exact date and time will be announced soon.
Information from the learning phase, including the symposium, will be used to develop a profile describing the ideal candidate to become WSU’s seventh president. Once approved by the Board of Trustees, this profile will be used to screen for the most qualified candidates. Although a final timetable is still being developed, we anticipate screening of candidates will begin later this fall.
I again want to thank members of the Search and Screening Advisory Committee and members of the WSU community at large as we continue this important work. As a reminder, the committee’s objective is to present the WSU Board of Trustees one or more highly qualified and acceptable candidates from whom to choose as Wright State University’s seventh president. We will strive to conduct an open and transparent search while recognizing the need to respect the privacy of potential candidates. We are looking forward to a successful search.
As always, I thank you for your support!
Douglas A. Fecher
Chair, WSU Presidential Search and Screening Advisory Committee
