Holly Morgan
Hmorgan3@uwyo.edu
The University of Wyoming Board of Trustees has continued its search for UW’s 26th president since UW President Richard C. McGinity announced in April he will be stepping down at the end of his term in June 2016.
McGinty stepped into the presidential role following Bob Sternberg’s resignation in November 2013 after only 137 days as president, illustrating UW’s recent legacy of a rapid president turnover rate.
“The issue of longevity is undoubtedly a topic that will be addressed by the board of trustees in interviews,” Chad Baldwin, associate vice president of communications and marketing said. “McGinity feels that the BOT needs to find a president to serve for seven to 10 years, a length of commitment that McGinity was not prepared to take when he stepped into the presidential role out of necessity.”
According to a UW press release, on Nov. 19 the presidential candidate semifinalists chosen by the first committee were advanced to the second committee who further narrowed the candidate pool.
The selected persons are now undergoing intensive background and reference checks, and finalists will be selected in the first December board of trustees meeting. The identity of these individuals will continue to be kept private until the public reveal on Friday in a UW press release.
The reason for this discretion, Baldwin said, is “Albert Pimentel and his consulting firm made it clear that if you don’t protect the identities of people who apply at the start of the selection process, you won’t get applicants; they wont take the risk.”
Public forums and public comment opportunities will be available once the qualifiers are revealed and the final selection commences. As part of the selection process, stakeholders will have an opportunity to meet with the finalists and provide feedback to the board of trustees.
“Feedback will be read by the BOT and they will figure it into their deliberation,” Baldwin said.
ASUW and other constituencies lobbied for the public reveal of final candidates chosen by the board of trustees, a requirement that was not mandatory for previous presidential searches at UW. This also allowed for the public and student comment processes that will be in place during the final deliberation.
Additionally, the lobbiests gained equal representation for students alongside faculty and trustees in both the ‘search’ and ‘finalist’ committees. Four students were chosen to take part in the committees.
“Students were selected in an open process. We received over 130 responses and pared it down to four people,” Brian Schueler, ASUW president, said. “We selected recipients with considerations of the applicants connection to a lot of people and could adequately represent the student body.”
Although supportive of the efforts for student involvement, Schueler contends the five-week hiatus period that pushed the public comment and listening sessions to the beginning of December should be reconsidered in the future because “the dates fall in the most stressful time of students’ semester. It would’ve been much better to have these sessions at, say, the beginning of the semester so students had more time and energy to focus on their involvement and feedback.”
The projected timeframe for the concluding presidential appointment is January 2016.
