WMU News

Fifty candidates for president to be screened

January 22, 1998

KALAMAZOO -- Some 50 candidates for president of the University will be screened in early February, said Richard G. Haworth, chairperson of the Board of Trustees and of the Presidential Search Advisory Committee.

"We're very pleased with the field of candidates," Haworth said. "We expect to reduce the number to seven or eight, whose references we then will begin checking very thoroughly."

Haworth said he would convene a meeting of the Presidential Search Advisory Committee early next month to begin that process. Five finalists will be brought to the campus this spring for public interviews and presentations.

State law requires the board to wait 30 days before offering a contract to one of the finalists. The position specification calls for the next president to have "a progressive, inclusive leadership style."

Haworth said that most of the candidates have a traditional background of academic and administrative experience. He did not rule out the selection of a president whose background differs from that.

The Board of Trustees established the Presidential Search Advisory Committee in July. It includes trustees and representatives of the faculty, staff, students, alumni and public. The committee developed search criteria after constituency and public sessions in October.

President Haenicke in June announced that he would retire from the presidency and return to the faculty. He will have served 13 years as president when he steps down July 31. He currently is the second longest serving president of a public university in Michigan.

Persons may contact the Presidential Search Advisory Committee through its secretary, Betty A. Kocher, secretary to the Board of Trustees. Her telephone number is 616 387-2360 and her e-mail address is betty.kocher@wmich.edu. Information also is available on the World Wide Web at <www.wmich.edu/wmu/search/>.

The consulting firm Korn Ferry International is assisting the University in the search.


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