A message from College Council Interim Chair Eli Basch, Esq. :
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Dear Campus Community Members:
I write to update you on preliminary steps I’ve taken this summer as Interim College Council Chair, in coordination with the SUNY Chancellor’s Office and Shelly Wright, Campus Liaison to the presidential search, to begin the process to find a successor to President Donald P. Christian when he retires on June 30, 2022.
Recommending presidential candidates to the Chancellor and Board of Trustees is a major role of the College Council and requires engagement from a cross-section of campus community members. I am grateful to President Christian for providing us a long runway to find the best candidate to lead this institution and thank him for his outstanding leadership over these last 11 years.
We Have Hired an Executive Search Firm
The SUNY Guidelines on Presidential Searches require the campus to hire a search firm to support the national recruitment of qualified candidates. During the summer, the campus procurement office, with my endorsement, secured the services of RPA, a nationally recognized comprehensive executive search firm with more than three decades of service to higher education, including many successful searches for SUNY System Administration and several SUNY campuses.
In consultation with Zulaika Rodriguez-Awoliyi, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Presidential Recruitment, Review and Evaluation in the Office of the Chancellor, I have decided to pursue a newly available hybrid approach for search firm services within SUNY. The hybrid model, long used by RPA in many searches, is more cost effective for the campus, allows us to tap into the expertise and national networks of RPA during the early recruitment phases of the search and relies on the expertise of Ms. Rodriguez-Awoliyi to support the search committee throughout the search.
Virtual Listening Sessions With Campus Constituents
In August, the search consultants began holding virtual listening sessions with campus stakeholders and has already met with or has scheduled sessions with: President Christian, President’s Cabinet, Academic Deans, Town Gown Committee, College Council, Alumni Council and Foundation Board Directors, Faculty Governance Leaders, and campus union leaders.
An open, virtual listening session with students and another with faculty and staff will be held after the semester begins to allow for the fullest participation.
Please Watch for a Survey to Inform the Search Committee
The Chancellor’s Office will be distributing a survey in early September to all employees, students, alumni, Foundation Board, College Council, and community leaders to solicit desired qualities in a new president and opportunities and challenges a next president will need to address. The survey results are shared with the search committee to inform the advertisement and the campus profile used to recruit qualified candidates.
Council Member Ronald Law '74 to Chair the Search
While I would normally chair the search in my role as Interim College Council chairman, I have, for personal reasons, declined that role and asked longtime Council member Ronald Law, a 1974 SUNY New Paltz alumnus, to chair the search. I have every confidence in his ability to lead this important task. I will serve on the search as one of four College Council representatives, as outlined in the search guidance.
Next Steps: Constituting the Search Committee
In the coming month, Ron and I will be constituting the search committee consistent with the committee makeup outlined in the SUNY Guidelines for Presidential Searches, which includes broad representation from many campus constituencies. Presiding Office of the Faculty, Reynolds Scott-Childress, is working with school/college-based governance bodies to solicit nominations of faculty from whom Ron and I will select six faculty members and one professional staff member to serve. Other campus constituencies are also nominating potential search committee members, including the Student Association. Our goal is to recruit a diverse group of individuals who represent a broad cross-section of the campus community to serve on this important body.
Chancellor Expected to Charge the Committee in Late September
We expect Chancellor Jim Malatras will formally charge our group in late September. We will then prepare a campus profile and advertisement to be placed in a variety of locations. The campus is creating a website that will be the primary source of information about the search, including the timeline, search committee membership, the search ad and campus profile. It will be launched once the search committee is charged.
Throughout the search process, we will share updates to ensure that this is a transparent process. All announcements from the search committee will be archived on the site.
I Urge Your Participation in the Process
Our goal is to find the best fit for our next leader and we need your help to be successful. We encourage your participation on the search committee, in listening sessions, through the campuswide survey, which allows all those who could not attend a listening session to have input into the search process, and your engagement in campus interviews with presidential finalists in the early part of 2022. We hope to be able to recommend three finalists to the Chancellor for his consideration shortly thereafter so that he can make his recommendation to the Board of Trustees and we can announce a new president before Don’s retirement.
To have a confidential discussion about this opportunity or to make a nomination, email Dana John Cohick, RPA president, at presidentialsearch@newpaltz.edu.
For process questions, please contact Zulaika Rodriguez-Awoliyi, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Presidential Recruitment, Review and Evaluation, at SUNY:
Zulaika.Rodriguez@suny.edu
Thank you in advance for your participation in this vital process.
Eli Basch, Esq., Interim College Council Chair
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1 Hawk Drive, New Paltz, NY 12561 | 845-257-SUNY (7869)
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