Presidential search continues as semester ends

Lauren Sutherland Assistant News Editor

The Presidential Search Committee is working on narrowing a list of candidates who possess extensive managerial and leadership experience, strong skills in communication and fundraising, and commitment to the promotion of diversity.

The College assembled the Committee in April 2005. It is comprised of seven trustees, five members of faculty and two students who have been given the task of finding a successor to current College President Fran Fergusson.

“We have received more than 150 applications and nominations, have winnowed that down to a manageable group, and are in the process of interviewing those candidates and collecting references and other information about them,” said Committee Chair William A. Plapinger ’74. A final nominee will be presented before the Board of Trustees for approval in early 2006.

The opportunity to participate in the presidential search was extended to the entire campus early in the process. Open forums were held on campus, which initially had mixed interest from students.

“There was much communication early on between the Committee and the campus at large, whether it was through letters or at the open meetings,” said Molly Shanley, a Margaret Stiles Halleck Professor of Political Science and one of the five faculty members elected to serve on the Committee. “There was a collective brainstorming about the state of the College at present, and about the qualities required of an effective president.”

“Student input so far has varied,” said student Committee member Daniel Ross ’06. “What we hear most frequently is the desire for someone who will improve Vassar’s relationship with Poughkeepsie, someone fundamentally committed to diversity, someone who will represent Vassar to the wider world, making its quality and coeducation still wider known.”

“At least one student submitted candidate nominations,” added Walter Padilla ’07, the other student Committee member.

The Committee has spent the last few months carrying out a general search and soliciting confidential nominations for prospective candidates. “Candidates were generally nominated by others or by themselves,” said Economics Professor David Kennett, another member of the Committee. “We also reached out to several promising candidates, and had the assistance of the AT Kearney consultancy firm.”

Members of the Committee acknowledged the positive outlook of the search, but, due to a strictly enforced confidentiality policy, were unable to divulge details.
“Hopefully, we will be able to reveal a whole lot more sometime soon, but right now there’s little we can discuss,” said Kennett.

Shanley noted the importance of enforced discretion out of consideration for the candidates. “The confidentiality policy ensures the widest possible range of candidates, that we can cast our net as widely as possible,” she said.

According to Plapinger, confidentiality protects candidates whose current jobs could be jeopardized if their employers learned of the search, or whose reputations could suffer significant damage in the event that they were not selected.

“These concerns cannot be overstated,” said Plapinger. “Failure to conduct a presidential search in a highly confidential manner would adversely affect the number and quality of the candidates who would be interested in applying for the position.”

The Committee members were reluctant to set a time frame for the announcement of a new president, although they were fairly optimistic about the search’s upcoming completion.
“We must have a new president selected by no later than July 1, 2006, but it is our goal to have selected the next president by the spring, if not earlier,” said Plapinger.

Shanley echoed the Committee chair’s hopes for a timely resolution for the presidential search, though the date for an announcement is not final.

“We hope that we’re able to announce the new president after the February meeting of the Board of Trustees,” said Shanley. “That is the goal, but will we meet it? Well, that’s impossible to say.”