Ashland University faculty senate met on Friday, Jan. 19 discuss updates on the ongoing presidential search. 

Greg McBrayer, president of the faculty senate, spoke on how members involved with the search have all signed a confidentiality agreement, acknowledging that all private meetings/information will not be discussed publicly.

Some senate members expressed thoughts on hoping for transparency. In response, McBrayer said, “It’s fairly standard practice in presidential searches for searches to retain some level of secrecy for the sake of the candidates applying for the job. Many of them would not want it to be known that they are applying for this job.” The point at hand during the meeting was that if updates on the search were to be public immediately, the application pool might be smaller. “That’s what was universally said,” said McBrayer. 

Dr. Carlos Campo, the current university president announced his planned departure in early August 2023, after serving for the past nine years. Campo will finish out these last few months as president with his last AU event being the graduation ceremony on May 4.

An AU press release stated his contract is set to end on May 31. Afterward, he will step into his new leadership role which has been announced to be CEO of the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C beginning on June 17.  

The presidential search committee’s last meeting was on Jan. 18. This committee consists of 17 faculty members and one student representative.

The list of members can be found at www.ashland.edu/presidential-search as well as constant updates on the continual process.

As May inches closer, and as the application pool narrows down, the updates will become more public.  

The next point spoken in the faculty senate meeting was the application deadline. The last day to apply is Saturday, Jan 27 at noon. Applications afterward will still be accepted but not prioritized.

The AU presidential search prospectus was added to the committee’s page in mid-December to outline the university’s core values, goals, and more. 

More information on this search can be expected soon and found here. The AU faculty senate meets once a month in Ronk Lecture Hall at Schar College of Education.