The search for Mississippi State University’s next president took its first major steps earlier this month when the search firm assisting in the search began advertising for the position.
Also, the committee that will help screen applicants to be Mississippi State University’s next president held its first meeting Jan. 13.
The committee, whose members “reflect key members of the university community as well as the public and private sectors,” according to a State College Board press release, will look at applications and recommend a handful of candidates for consideration by the College Board.
Commissioner of Higher Education Tom Meredith said in the press release that he expects the search, which is being conducted by the Florida executive search firm Greenwood and Associates Inc. in conjunction with the College Board and an advisory committee, to be completed by April.
An advertisement posted online Jan. 2 in The Chronicle of Higher Education says Commissioner Tom Meredith and the College Board “seek a President whose academic and administrative accomplishments demonstrate the leadership, management, communication, and fund-raising abilities required to continue the University’s role as a national educational leader.”
The advertisement says the search committee will “continue to accept applications and nominations until the position is filled,” but that “for best consideration, applications and nominations should be provided by Feb. 3, 2006.”
Applications for the presidency, a position that currently pays $400,000 per year, should include a letter describing relative experience and interest, a r?sum? and contact information for five references, the advertisement says. Nominations should include a letter of nomination, it says.
“Nowadays most people get into the consideration by nomination rather than applications,” said Marty Wiseman, director of the Stennis Institute of Government. “That gives you also a way to explain your involvement to your own campus,” he said.
The position was also advertised in the Hispanic Outlook and Diverse magazines, presidential search advisory committee chair Ruth Prescott said.
Although the College Board has decided to withhold the names of candidates from the public in a move that some campus and community leaders have criticized, several names have come up in connection with the position.
Among them are Jim Cofer, who serves as president at the University of Louisiana in Monroe; Mark Keenum, chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.); and Vance Watson, MSU vice president for Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine.
According to a Jan. 13 article in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Cofer sent an e-mail to colleagues at ULM confirming that the firm conducting the search had contacted him.
The last search, which ended in the hiring of current MSU President Charles E. Lee, became bogged down. Lee, who was serving as interim president at the time, was eventually approved on a permanent basis.
Robert Holland Faculty Senate President Mark Goodman, who has objected to the secrecy of the current search, said the search is better this time around because “I have a lot more faith in Virginia Newton and Ed Blakeslee. I think they are very honest and ethical people.”