Banners for open house activities surround the clock tower. Photo by Meghan O’Sullivan
Western Carolina University hopes for better success in the latest search for a successor to former chancellor, David O. Belcher. The Board of Trustees are looking at the list of finalists presented by the search committee where the decision will be made to recommend a potential chancellor to the UNC system interim president or return to the pool of candidates.
On Jan. 19 of last year, a 21-member search committee convened for the first time to meet with University of North Carolina President Margaret Spellings. Since then, the committee saw the finalist, who was elected by the UNC Board of Governors, withdraw and the resignation of UNC President Spellings.
Now former UNC President, Spellings stepped down from her role at the end of 2018 despite being under contract until March 1. UNC Health Care CEO Dr. William Roper, also known as Bill Roper, was named interim president of the UNC system on Nov. 1.
UNC Board Harry Smith announced in July of 2018 that the Board planned to expedite the review of the search process and have a refined and improved one in place by September.
Two months later, on Sept. 21, the new 20-member committee reconvened. The same committee remains in place other than losing one member to graduation. To view a complete list of the members, click here.
The committee’s deadline for receiving nominations and applications was Jan. 4. They received 58 and narrowed that number down to 10 in under a month. During this process, the committee decided to decrease the total number of questions they asked candidates and reduce complexity in order to leave more time for candidates to answer the questions. When asked if this process was expedited, Bill Studenc, Senior Director of News Services, said the committee doesn’t consider the narrowing of the field to be expedited at all.
“Some of the preliminary steps in the first phase of the process – developing a chancellor leadership statement and a job advertising strategy, for example – did not have to be duplicated in the second phase,” said Studenc.
The selected number of candidates visited campus in mid-February to meet with a variety of campus stakeholders, including students, faculty, staff, administrators, alumni and community members. The committee then met Feb. 27 to discuss and review the feedback collected from the stakeholders. During the meeting, the committee was expected to select a slate of finalists to present to the WCU Board of Trustees for consideration on March 1. The Trustees will then either recommend those finalists to Roper or return the slate back to the committee for further action.
During last year’s search process, the committee held only a handful of forums for students, faculty and staff. The one student forum that was held during last year’s process didn’t have the turnout, but the committee still gathered some useful feedback. The committee decided not to hold any of these forums this time around. The committee feels they sought the appropriate level of involvement of students, faculty, staff, alumni, community members and stakeholders.
“The faculty and student forums were held to provide information for the development of the chancellor leadership statement,” said Studenc. “Except for minor modifications to the leadership statement to reflect updated enrollment numbers and similar tweaks, the leadership statement remains intact, thus no need for another round of forums to develop what has already been developed.”
Considering how loved and cherished Belcher was on campus and in the community, perhaps the committee should take into account who the new chancellor will be serving (students, faculty and staff) and whose input could potentially be the most beneficial (students, faculty and staff).
