The search for Emporia State’s next president has been narrowed down to the final four candidates.
The prospective presidents will be invited for campus visits in early to mid-November for personal interviews with search committee members, according to Deryl Wynn, search committee chair.
“ESU is the best kept secret and we don’t want to be the next best secret anymore,” said Jonathan Rivers, search committee member and senior social science secondary education major. “We want a leader and champion and I think that’s what we are going to get.”
During their campus visits, candidates will tour the university and interact with various groups to determine if ESU is the right fit for them.
Students will also be allowed to sit in on interviews with the candidates, ask them questions and get to know them, Wynn said. The committee is also setting up a survey where students and faculty that participate in the open forums can give feedback.
Rivers said students hold considerable weight in this final decision.
“ESU (has) a strong foundation,” Rivers said. “A lot of individuals are in love with this institution. We want that inspirational leader who is ready to take us to the next level.”
The names of the finalists will be available within next few weeks before they come to campus, but Wynn said the names of the candidates who are sent to the Board of Regents for selection would not be made public until after a president has been appointed.
“The final ones that go to the Board of Regents will not be made available before they meet with the board,” Wynn said.
Still, Rivers said that KBOR aims to appoint a candidate whom students can rally behind.
“The process also has to have a certain amount of flexibility because it’s important that we find the right person for the job,” said Vanessa Lamoreaux, spokeswoman for the KBOR.
Rivers said the committee is assembled by an appropriate team of people who have the best interest of ESU at heart and want to see it move forward.
“Even though we come from all different walks of life and have different experiences, the committee itself, despite differences, (is) unified in their assessment,” Wynn said. “I feel extremely encouraged and positive about where we are.”
Lamoreaux said the search committee will submit to KBOR its candidate recommendations at the conclusion of the campus interviews. KBOR intends to name the 16th president of ESU before the end of December.
Susan Welte