Presidential Search Process
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From
"Fessler, Susanna" <sfessler@albany.edu>
Date
2011-12-10 15:42:56+00:00
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<ddwhite@albany.edu>; "Leonard; Danielle R" <dleonard@albany.edu>; "Lifshin; Eric"
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<gcameron@albany.edu>; "Nicholls; Heidi J" <hnicholls@albany.edu>; "Castracane; James"
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"Aimee.Bernstein@suny.edu" <Aimee.Bernstein@suny.edu>; "Minor; Tamra" <tminor@albany.edu>
Subject
Presidential Search Process
Attachments
PROPOSED PROCEDURE FOR DESIGNATING MEMBERS.docx
SEC Colleagues,
As you know, the President has announced his intention to retire, and yesterday the University Council sent out an e-mail to the UA Community announcing the
beginning of the search process to find a new president. I'm writing today to bring you all up to date on this process, and also to begin a conversation in the SEC
about our own procedures. This e-mail will be lengthy, but I hope you'll read it through to the end because the SEC has a very important role.
The SUNY Board of Trustees have Guidelines on Conducting Presidential Searches. These guidelines are available in full online at
http://www.suny.edu/sunypp/documents.cfm?doc_id=573 . Although these Guidelines are currently undergoing some revision, I have met with the Chancellor's
liaison for the search, Associate Vice Chancellor Aimee Bernstein, who assures me that the revisions will not adversely affect what we do. In other words, the
changes appear to be small--whatever they are--and additive in detail without changing overall suggested guidelines. You will see Aimee copied on much of our
correspondence about the search.
I'd like to walk everyone through some parts of these guidelines, in part so you know what to expect and what our responsibilities are, and in part because the
Senate will be key in keeping the campus informed about the process. We are, in essence, the campus liaisons.
The Guidelines state:
The legal authority to appoint the president or chief administrative officer of a state-operated campus of the State University of New York is vested in the
University Board of Trustees by Section 355(2)(g) of the NYS Education Law. The council of each such campus is given responsibility for recommending a
candidate or candidates to the Board by Section 356(3)(a). Section 6004 (c) gives this same power to the Trustees of the College of Environmental Science
and Forestry. The Board of Trustees may also appoint a president or chief administrative officer in the event that no council recommendation is made, or where a
council recommendation fails to comply with the Trustees' standards and procedures.
Some of you might not know the first thing about the University Council. If that describes you, I encourage you to look at the Council's website at
http://www.albany.edu/council/ , particularly the "Powers & Duties" section. The "take away" from all this is that the Council runs the search. The Presidential
Search was discussed at yesterday's Council meeting, the minutes of which are public record and will be posted online at
http://www.albany.edu/council/meetings.shtml .
The next part of the Guidelines reads as follows. I'm inserting comments where appropriate, in blue .
Preliminary Steps in the Search Process
1. As soon as is practical after it is known that a presidential vacancy will occur, the council chair shall consult with the chancellor for advice and
instructions in planning the search and the criteria to be used in the selection of a new president.
This has happened, but there is a small issue I feel I should mention. Technically, our Council does not have a Chair. Dan Tomson is the Vice Chair, and
for a few years now has taken the duties of the Chair. A Chair is not elected by the council, but rather appointed by the Governor, who has not appointed a
Chair (yet). I do not think this will become problematic, but I wanted to mention it so that it is out in the open.
2. Unless otherwise agreed upon in advance by the chancellor and the council chair, the search committee shall consist of four members of the council
(including the chair), six members of the full-time teaching faculty of the campus , one student, one alumni representative, one campus-related
foundation representative, one academic dean, and one professional or support staff member .
The Senate's responsibility is to provide the six members of the full-time teaching faculty. Because our Senate includes professional faculty, I have also
asked the Council if it wants the Senate to be responsible for providing that name as well. In the past I believe that we have, but the decision on that lies
with the Council.
3. The council chair shall appoint a chair of the search committee. Generally, the council chair also serves as the chair of the search committee. If the
council chair is unwilling or unable to serve as chair of the search committee, the council chair shall appoint another member of the council to serve as
chair of the search committee.
4. Taking care to assure that faculty representation on the search committee speaks for a broad spectrum of faculty opinion, the faculty shall elect its
representatives to the search committee by secret ballot at an open session of the faculty governance group, at which a quorum of the teaching faculty are
present. The council chair shall invite the appropriate campus and community groups to submit recommendations for all other positions on the search
committee, and shall make the appointments to the remaining positions on the search committee from the recommendations submitted.
As I'm sure you can imagine, this is the key section for the Senate--I'll address it in detail below.
5. The Chancellor shall designate a liaison representative to serve as a nonvoting member of the presidential search committee. That representative
shall have full access to the files of the committee, and shall be responsible for reporting at regular intervals to the Chancellor and the Trustees regarding
the progress of the search and the work of the search committee.
6. The council chair and the Chancellor, or the Chancellor's representative, shall agree on an expected timetable for the search and nomination process.
7. The Chancellor's office shall provide a list of nationally recognized organizations with established expertise in academic recruitment and screening
from which the council shall select one to assist in its search.
The Council will send out RFPs to search firms. It is obligated to grant interviews to any firm that submits a proposal, and then it will choose one firm. This
will be happening in the next month or so.
8. A campus staff liaison shall be appointed to assist the search committee and to coordinate the clerical work of the committee. A budget for the search
should be determined in conjunction with the chief financial officer of the campus and arrangements made for a search office and support staff. The budget
should be sufficient to cover the cost of hiring a professional search consultant, advertising the position, travel of candidates to interviews as well as the
usual telephone, postage and duplicating expenses associated with a search.
Sorrell Chesin has begun work on this. We will soon have a web page for the search, with regular updates posted on developments. I will also put a link to
that page on the Senate website. Apropos of all this, I wanted to emphasize that the Council has stated its commitment to transparency in the search
process.
Now, to return to point 4 above:
"Taking care to assure that faculty representation on the search committee speaks for a broad spectrum of faculty opinion, the faculty shall elect its
representatives to the search committee by secret ballot at an open session of the faculty governance group, at which a quorum of the teaching faculty are
present."
We do have some precedent with which to work, but it is not binding. This sentence asks us to forward six names that speak for the faculty. Aimee Bernstein has
emphasized to me that diversity of this group is also important. The caveat is that those names must also be the result of an election. Not to put too fine a point on
it, but an election cannot guarantee diversity. So, I have a proposal and need the SEC's input on this . I'm attaching it as a MSWord Document. I have also
spoken with Tamra Minor, Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion, about this issue and am copying her for her feedback. Because we do not have another SEC
meeting until the spring term, this conversation will have to be done electronically. Please "reply all" when you respond. Eventually, after December 19th, I will call
an electronic vote by the SEC on the procedure and then proceed as appropriate.
Time is of the essence in this matter. Because the election must happen at an open Senate session with a quorum, I am planning on holding this election at the
February 6th Senate meeting. This is the first meeting of the spring semester. The following Wednesday, February 8th, I would like to call a special meeting
of the SEC at 2:45 p.m. for the purpose of finalizing the list of six names. Please mark your calendars. The University Council is eager to move on this search,
and our contribution of six names will be one of the last pieces in place.
Action items from this e-mail for SEC members:
* Review the attached document and make comments by December 19th
* Mark your calendars for a special SEC meeting on February 8th, location TBD
Thanks to everyone for your commitment in this endeavor!
Susanna
Susanna Fessler
Professor
East Asian Studies Department
Humanities 210
University at Albany, State University of New York
Albany, NY 12222
Phone: (518) 442-4119
Fax: (518) 442-4118
E-mail: fessler@albany.edu
http://www.albany.edu/eas/fessler.shtml
