By Alyssa Allemand
The search committee for a new president of Edgewood College intends to have someone “in the new shoes” by July 1, 2020, according to board of trustees members Mary Schmoeger and Lucy Keane. Interviews with candidates are planned to begin this winter.
On Oct. 10 at the Presidential Transition Forum hosted by Student Senate and interim President Sister Mary Ellen Gevelinger, O.P., Keane and Schmoeger said the first step in the search process is to pick a search firm by Oct. 24. Four firms will be interviewed Oct. 21-22.
The current search committee consists of five trustees. “As soon as we have a search firm selected, it will expand to include students, faculty, staff, sisters, other stakeholders, alumni,” Schmoeger said. “And we need to determine who that broader team is. That team, I envision, being the interview team.”
Schmoeger is the leader of the search committee. She has experience working in executive and board recruitment through her previous position at American Family Insurance. “It is only because of her deep experience … that we’re able to really move this along,” Keane said.
The committee sent out a request for proposals (RFP) to search firms, asking for responses by Oct. 11. On Oct. 15, the committee will review the RFPs.
The job of the search firm is to “really understand the institution” of Edgewood College in order to go “across the world to find candidates who fit your profile that you’re interested in,” said Schmoeger.
Keane, who is chair of the board, said the current search committee made up of board members is part of “catching up” with the process and is a necessary step since choosing a search firm is a “business deal.”
Schmoeger said there are three types of searches the firm could decide on–open, closed, and hybrid–and each has its own risks. The firm will give the board advice on “how heavy weighted the risks are if we go any one of those routes,” she said.
Keane and Schmoeger said they anticipate a hybrid model, a combination of closed and open. That means the names of candidates will be made public at a certain point during the interview process.
The type of search chosen will determine how involved students, faculty, staff and other stakeholders can be throughout the search process.
“The more we can bring in Edgewood constituents into the process, I think, the stronger sell we have to a candidate and also the stronger decision making we have,” Schmoeger said.
The committee put together a survey that Edgewood College Director of Strategic Communications Ed Taylor forwarded to students on Oct. 10.
Input from those surveys will be considered when picking a search firm – for example, “compassion” was a common answer to what characteristics the campus thinks the next president should have, based on the first 100 responses. When interviewing search firms, the search committee may tailor questions around the idea of compassion, Schmoeger said.
“Our goal is to get the deepest, best, most inclusive, diverse process that we can get,” said Keane.
Post your comments