Search committee meets to begin selection process

While the search committee seeking a replacement to President Emeritus Julio Leon has questions remaining to answer, it at least has a process ready to go.

At the committee’s meeting Monday night in the Billingsly Student Center, the group established a process by which its members can view candidate’s application materials. The applications of candidates, now numbering 18, will be housed in a small room outside the University President’s office. Committee members can view these individually or with one or two other committee members. The small groups are to avoid the appearance of Sunshine Law violations.

The members will each have their own binder in which to take notes and rate candidates and these materials will remain in the screening room at all times.

“I think we will probably want to divide them into A, B and C categories,” said Dwight Douglas, chairman of the search committee and chairman of the University’s Board of Governors. “A being this is a candidate we want to move forward, B being this is an application where we need additional information, and C being ones that won’t move forward.”

Douglas said the process would likely narrow the field to three candidates who would then be brought in for interviews and to meet the University community.

“Once we have those (three), it will be an open process,” he said. “The faculty will have a shot at them, the students will have a shot at them, and we may hold a reception so people can see them in a social setting.”

Douglas told the committee that in conversations with officials at Crowder College and Missouri State University, he was told to expect a flurry of applications closer to the deadline. Dr. Al Cade, head of the department of teacher education and a committee member, asked Douglas what numbers would constitute a good pool of applicants. Douglas said large numbers may not solve another problem.

“(Officials) at Missouri State told me we would be surprised at the low number of outstanding candidates,” he said.

Bryan Vowells, representing Southern alumni on the committee, said area graduates and business leaders have suggested hiring a search firm to target candidates who might not be scanning the ads for such a position but might be an exceptional fit for the job.

“I have heard that they want us to make sure we are casting a wide enough net,” Vowells said. “We want it to be wide enough that we get the right person.”

Douglas said that was not a direction the Board of Governors decided to take and Debbie Dutch Kelley, committee member and director of human resources for the University, said such a move would not necessarily yield results.

“The only thing guaranteed if you contract with a search firm is that you will spend money,” she said.

Douglas added that the job market in higher education may not operate under the same conditions as the business world.

“The word will probably get out there faster in this industry than in others,” he said.

Vowells said in his conversations with members of the community and University alumni several qualities have emerged that a successful should possess. Among these, he said, is an “enhanced student experience.”

“To have a strong Alumni Association, you have to have a strong student body,” he said.

The committee will now identify specific challenges facing the University and will evaluate candidates on their ability to meet them. The committee meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Oct. 15 in the House of Lords Room of the Billingsly Student Center.