JESSICA MEDITZ
Editor in Chief
Among the other uncertainties of today’s climate, many of Fredonia’s campus and community members might be wondering: “What’s going on with the presidential search?”
It’s a question that’s been buzzing since the retirement of Fredonia’s former president, Virginia Horvath, and the appointment of interim president, Dennis Hefner.
The process of finding the right candidate began at the start of the Fall 2019 semester, with the chairman of the College Council, Frank Pagano, organizing a search committee.
During the several months that were devoted to forming the search committee, Mary Beth Sievens, chair of Fredonia’s University Senate, said that “The college was getting proposals from various search firms to manage the process.”
“By managing the process, I mean [search firms] collected all of the application materials, managed logistics of when [the search committee] actually wanted to interview various candidates, reviewed candidates and did background checking as well,” she said.
Sievens said that SUNY Chancellor Kristina Johnson paid a visit to campus to meet with the search committee to give them the cost of the search.
The search committee spent months reviewing, discussing and narrowing down the pool of applicants for the position.
But one thing that made the search more challenging than expected was that Chancellor Johnson imposed a confidential search on all SUNY campuses conducting presidential searches. This meant that all applicants would remain anonymous and the names of all finalists would not be disclosed under any circumstances.
Johnson stood by this decision, namely because she thinks it improved the pool of candidates that applied for the position.
Sievens believes this decision was urged because some people would fear the repercussions from their current jobs if their names were released.
Not everyone agreed with Chancellor Johnson’s reasoning, though.
“The Faculty Council of Community Colleges created a resolution calling for there to be open searches,” said Sievens. “The University Faculty Senate and eventually, the Fredonia University Senate endorsed this resolution.”
She said that although faculty and staff would have preferred to have an open search, they respected the Chancellor’s decision not to do that.
Another challenge the search committee faced was that interviews for the pool of candidates had to be done virtually, as a result of the social distancing orders put in place due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
The pool was narrowed down again, and those candidates had virtual on-campus visits and met with small groups of faculty, staff, administrators and students.
These meet-ups were the final evaluations of the candidates done by the campus search committee, which, “were very good, but were a little more difficult [than an in-person interview],” according to Sievens.
“When you can’t meet someone in person, it is a somewhat more forced environment. For the candidates, they couldn’t come to see the campus for themselves … or get to know what the community is like. That makes it a less-than-ideal experience,” she said.
Something that would have been even less ideal would be to put off finding a new president until the public health crisis is over, which the search committee avoided by conducting these virtual interviews.
Once completed, the search committee sent over their findings as well as lists of the various strengths and weaknesses among the applicants to the College Council, which were then sent over to Chancellor Johnson.
Although the final decision of who is chosen is ultimately Johnson’s, Sievens said that the search committee did their best to find candidates who are, “skilled at handling a budget in challenging times, experienced in increasing enrollment and retention numbers and experienced in approaching issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion.”
“Most importantly, we were looking for someone who really understands the mission of the college and appreciates what we do for our students and the importance that we place on teaching our students and giving them the best education. While also from the faculty perspective, doing meaningful research that enriches our own disciplines and communities in the world,” said Sievens.
Since information regarding results is out of the hands of Fredonia’s search committee and University Senate, Sievens said that she is unsure of exactly when the public will know who Fredonia’s new president will be.
Once the ideal candidate is chosen by Chancellor Johnson, the SUNY Board of Trustees must approve that choice.The SUNY Board of Trustees will hold their next meetings on June 16 and 17; it’s likely that the name of Fredonia’s new president will be shared around then.
UPDATE: The SUNY Board of Trustees has rescheduled their next meetings to June 22 and 23.
*Featured image courtesy of Jim Gibbons/State University of New York at Fredonia