Northwest's Board of Regents will soon begin its search for an outside firm to help the University find its next president by July 2009.
Letters will go out to five search firms, one of which will help Northwest find presidential candidates nationwide and work with the University's own screening committee to narrow those choices down.
The letters ask the firms to provide detailed company profiles, including the services they provide, how much they charge and a roster of previous clients, namely other universities, Board President Bill Loch said.
"We know there are firms out there that are more conducive to smaller universities than large universities," he said.
Responses should start trickling in over the next couple of weeks, Loch said. The regents will meet to go through company profiles and select the firm that best meets Northwest's needs. The University will allocate $150,000 for the entire presidential search, including funds for the search company, said Ray Courter, vice president of finance and support services, at the regents' annual retreat two weeks ago.
After Northwest chooses its firm, things get relatively unpredictable, Loch said. The company and the University's search committee will likely collaborate to create a profile and job description of the next Northwest president to market to potential candidates - something the institution hasn't done since President Dean Hubbard took office nearly 25 years ago.
"I'm looking forward to getting educated (by the firm) about what other universities have done in the past," Loch said.
As for the "in house" search committee, Friday was the deadline for objections to an Aug. 20 board proposal outlining its structure and makeup. None came up, so the decision automatically became final as originally proposed, Loch said.
"I didn't expect to have any objections, as I thought the board covered all the entities that play an important role (in the search) and gave them even representation," he said.
Thirteen University and Maryville representatives will serve on the committee, with Loch as its chair. The faculty, staff, current administration, Board of Regents, students, alumni and community all will have representation. Some groups already have representatives. Student Senate President Abby Freeman will serve as the students' representative, and Regents Loch and Doug Sutton make up two of the board's three representatives, the third pending Loch's appointment.
Additional letters were sent to the remaining entities' governing bodies, such as Faculty Senate and the Support Staff Council, requesting panel representatives.
Freeman said she has received inquiries from senators and constituents as to why Northwest students will have only one representative on the committee and if there would be an opportunity for additional student input throughout the presidential search.
She discussed the matter with Loch and both agreed on the possibility of a separate student panel or forum made up of "not just senators, but all student leaders at the University," once Northwest picks its top candidates, Freeman said.
The next Board of Regents meeting is Friday, Sept. 12, where Loch will update the University and Maryville on the firm search.
"It's going to be a learning process for everyone, especially the board, because none of us have done this before," he said of the presidential search as a whole. "We'll do the most professional job we can and represent the University well."
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