MELISSA CHICKER — News Writer
The search for Southern Connecticut State University’s next president is progressing on schedule, according to Art Paulson, chair of the SCSU Advisory Committee. The committee met last month to begin its multistage evaluation process to assist in identifying possible candidates whose background and experience meet the qualities and qualification established for the SCSU presidency.
“I am equally happy to report that the advisory committee has faced difficult choices reviewing the applications of a large and highly talented pool of academic leaders,” said Paulson. “We are very pleased with the progress of the work to date and optimistic about the ultimate outcome of the search process.”
The search process produced 73 candidates, which include current and former chancellors, presidents and chief academic officers compromising, and has been reduced to eight. The candidates have been invited to a neutral site interview held Friday, Oct. 28. The search has been taken nationally as well, attracting attention of applicants from 31 different states. Two representatives of the University Advisory Committee along with two members of the Board of Trustees Search Committee, the Chancellor and a representative of the Regents participated in those interviews. The participants will meet and decide on three or four candidates to invite to campus after the interviews.
The Committee hopes after the finalists are picked, depending on their availability, to schedule a campus interview during the week of Nov. 7. When this is made certain, an invitation to the campus community will go out for participation.
“It helps candidates to know if they are a good match for Southern and help students to know if they think the candidate is a good match for the university,” said Leslie Betters, senior psychology major and Board Chairperson of Elections and Internal Management for Student Government. “We would hope to see active participation from students in the process to show that students really care.”
According to a news release to the campus, the purpose of the campus interview is to enable the campus to know the candidates better and the visits should provide an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the strengths and benefits that Southern offers to a potential new president.
“We encourage everyone to participate,” said Jermaine Williams, senior mathematics major and Representative at Large for Student Government. “This will bring stability back to the University. We need someone to set long-term goals for the campus.”
The University Advisory Committee will assemble feedback from the campus community and meet to decide on recommendations, which will then be forwarded to the Board of Trustees Search Committee after the campus interviews. An open forum for students will be scheduled as part of the interview process as the Advisory Committee strongly considers opinions received from all members of the campus community.
