Dear members of the Wright State University Community:
On behalf of the Wright State Presidential Search and Screening Advisory Committee (S-SAC), I am writing to update you on our search for Wright State University’s seventh president.
The WSU search committee is continuing in the search phase of our plan. We have spent the past several weeks advertising for, receiving nominations, and directly recruiting a pool of highly qualified candidates to become WSU’s seventh President.
A total of 61 applications were received by the December 5th deadline, and the search committee has selected the best of these to invite for first-round interviews. We are pleased with the size of the candidate pool, the quality of candidates, and the diversity of those who applied. It is clear that Wright State University is an attractive opportunity for some of the best university presidential candidates in the country!
The candidate pool includes current sitting presidents, chancellors, deans, chief academic officers, university vice presidents, professors, and business leaders. Most candidates are external, but we also received several applications from within our university. In addition, most applicants possess doctoral degrees, but we’ve also attracted candidates with medical degrees, law degrees, master's degrees, and some with multiple advanced degrees. At least one candidate is a Rhodes Scholar, several international candidates have applied, as have several with experience in research universities, and the diversity of our pool according to gender, nationality, race, experience, and background is impressive. It is an excellent pool and highly competitive, too!
The search committee held a vigorous discussion about the 61 applications, and I believe all perspectives from the university community were capably represented. I was particularly pleased with the enthusiasm and respect with which committee members engaged each other during the discussion – even when disagreeing on the merits of this candidate or that. It is a pleasure to be part of such a committed and professional group of committee members.
This much is true: Wright State’s next president is almost certainly included in the pool of candidates! Soon we will begin the interview process to identify a select few to move forward in the process. It is gratifying to know that, based on the quality of our candidate pool, whoever makes the final cut will be a distinguished candidate with the skills and experience needed to lead this great university.
Interviews with semifinalists will begin in January and continue through early spring. A critical concern is protecting the privacy of candidates in order to obtain the very best pool of candidates. In the world of recruiting for higher education it is well known that the best candidates are hesitant to apply if their candidacy is apt to become known too early in the process or before they are named a finalist. We appreciate the patience and understanding of the Wright State community in the importance of maintaining candidate privacy.
We remain on track to achieve our goal of presenting one or more acceptable candidates to the Board of Trustees in the spring; the Board of Trustees is on schedule to announce an appointment soon after that.
Our remaining timeline includes:
- January: Initial in-person interviews; finalists selected for on-campus visits.
- March: Search committee presents acceptable candidates to the Board of Trustees.
- April: Board of Trustees conducts final interviews and appoints WSU’s seventh president.
- May: Transition-in activities for new president and transition-out activities for Dr. Hopkins begin.
- July: New president begins work.
It has been a pleasure working with our outstanding search committee, made up of representatives of the Board of Trustees, students, faculty, staff, deans, the president’s cabinet, retirees, alumni, Wright State Foundation, and community leaders. Everybody involved in the search has spent countless hours reviewing candidate profiles and identifying top candidates. I cannot thank them enough for the time they’ve invested in this critical hiring decision.
I also want to make special mention of members of our administrative support team – their assistance and support to the search committee has been invaluable and a huge help. I cannot thank them enough. For the latest information and news on Wright State's presidential search, I encourage you to regularly visit the search website at www.wright.edu/presidential-search.
Douglas A. Fecher Chair, Wright State Presidential Search and Screening Advisory Committee
