On August 22, an announcement came from Jim Hess, chair of the AU Board of Trustees, through the Ashland University portal that a search committee for the next president of AU has been selected.
The Presidental Search Committee Members are as follows:
Trustees:
- Paul McKnight
- Steven Cole
- Pat Gravatt
- Rob Ward
- John Denman
- Deb Karl
- Joyce Lamb
- Tim Solomon
- Dustin Ness
- Jim Hess
Non – Trustees:
- Rick Ewing
- Mary Deloe
- Dr. Greg McBrayer
- Al King
- Dr. Shawn Orr
- Dr. Jason Barnhart
- Dr. Dan Fox
- Giovanni Hutchings
The committee co-chairs are Paul McKnight and Steven Cole, while Hess will be ex-officio.
Giovanni Hutchings will be the student representative on the committee.
According to Hess, the “thought process” was highly involved and took time to develop.
“I wanted to get broad representation from the greater AU community,” said Hess. “I selected a trustee from each of the 6 major board committees. The Search Committee is co-chaired by 2 trustees that serve on the academic affairs committee, including the chair of the committee. In selecting members of the AU community, I wanted to include people that collectively could represent as much of the overall university as possible.”
The student representative, Hutchings, was chosen since he is currently a graduate student at AU but was an undergrad last academic year. He would potentially bring both perspectives into the search process.
“I wanted to assemble a team that I thought would understand the unique strengths of AU, and be able to appropriately integrate them into this search process,” said Hess.
The presidential search committee will also be asked to recommend a search firm consultant to assist in the process of searching for the next president. The firm will have to be approved by the AU Board of Trustees.
“The Search Firm Consultant will assist us in putting together the Presidential Profile for the search,” said Hess. “They will also guide our process to obtain candidates that fit our profile. The Search Committee will then recommend up to 3 candidates for the Board to consider, evaluate, and select from.”
AU President Dr. Carlos Campo thinks the presidential search committee should be looking for a president whose beliefs align with the AU’s values, mission, and vision.
Campo also mentioned that the committee should “be focused on someone who cares about our correctional education students” so the program will continue to “thrive” moving forward.
Overall, Dr. Campo hopes the committee will focus their attention on someone who aligns with AU’s mission.
“I think more importantly to someone who says I believe in the mission at Ashland, we’re trying to teach students to work, certainly with integrity,” said Dr. Campo. “To me, those are enduring values.”
The Collegian will follow the presidential search as it continues to develop throughout the academic year.
This is a developing story
