Committee listens to faculty about future president

Rachel Abbey

The nine pages of the search committee’s position description outline a broad range of skills for Kent State’s next president.

“It’s a very, very thorough description. If anything, there’s so much in there because the job is so big,” said Richard Rubin, director of the School of Library and Information Science. “It asks for everything a leader might possess.”

Rubin helped compose a letter from the directors of the College of Communication and Information to the search committee, telling them what traits they hoped to see in the next president.

The description addressed t he college’s concerns, as well as those of many other parts of the university, Mary Stansbury said. Stansbury is an associate professor in the School of Library and Information Science and helped the College of Communication and Information faculty send a letter of wants and concerns similar to that of the directors.

“I’m pleased that there’s not a one-dimension approach to what we’re looking for in our next president,” she said.

The committee spent a lot of time thinking about and trying to balance people’s input, said Sandra Harbrecht, search committee chairperson.

The search committee listened to the faculty’s concerns, said Francoise Massardier-Kenney, director for the Institute for Applied Linguistics. Massardier-Kenney helped compose a letter from faculty members encouraging an academic leader.

The description listed strong academic credentials as a key quality in the next president.

The search committee will meet Monday and retire into executive session to discuss what to do next, Harbrecht said.

Contact administration reporter Rachel Abbey at [email protected].