Search committee to start interviews by February

The Chancellor Search Committee, aiming for a March completion of its work, plans to complete reviews of candidates’ paperwork in January and begin interviews in early February.

A preliminary timetable, distributed at the panel’s meeting Nov. 18, called for running advertisements for the position in late November and early December. Jim Talton, chair of the committee and of the ECU Board of Trustees, said he hopes an announcement of the new chancellor can be made at the March 20 meeting of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors.

Rick Niswander, chair of the faculty, told the committee that a primary theme expressed in recent public forums was that ECU is inextricably intertwined with the eastern North Carolina region and the next chancellor should be someone who understands “who we are and what we are.” Niswander organized three forums to gather input and feedback on qualities sought in a chancellor. “People who spoke at the forums were passionate,” he said.

Niswander also provided the committee copies of two resolutions passed by the Faculty Senate. The principal recommendations of the resolutions are that the search should be open once the finalists are selected and that the next chancellor should have a background in higher education.

One resolution says that each of the final candidates, in open meetings, should present to the faculty their views on higher education and how they intend to apply their philosophies to ECU.

Shelly Storbeck, the consultant hired by the committee, cautioned that some potentially excellent candidates, especially current presidents or chancellors, would drop out of the search or not apply if they thought they would be identified before the conclusion of the process.

Talton said the panel could wait until later in the search to decide on the openness issue.