presidential search | ESU Bulletin

Regents to name 16th president on campus

Written by Bulletin Staff
Thursday, 08 December 2011 12:29
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The 16th president of Emporia State will be announced at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow in Albert Taylor Hall, according to an email sent yesterday afternoon by Vanessa Lamoreaux, spokesperson for the Kansas Board of Regents. The regents will travel to Emporia and hold a special meeting on campus to name the president.

The search for a new president began last May when Michael Lane, currently a consultant to KBOR for ESU, unexpectedly announced his resignation. Lane will resume a faculty position in the accounting and information systems department in January. Lane’s wife, Peggy, is currently chair of the department.

“I commend the Kansas Board of Regents and the Search Committee for its conduct of a high-quality and expeditious search process. I am delighted that the Board will come to the Emporia State University campus to make this announcement. The campus community looks forward with excitement to the Friday announcement,” said H. Edward Flentje, interim president, in Lamoreaux’s email.

Pick up a copy of The Bulletin’s special issue on Dec. 12 for full coverage on the new president. Issues are distributed on campus and throughout the community and are also available on The Bulletin’s website.

The Final Forum

Written by Bulletin Staff
Thursday, 01 December 2011 10:51
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Ellen Weiss

The final ESU presidential candidate visited campus last week, and for the last time this year I attended the forum.

Kathryn Cruz-Uribe had many answers that were similar to the past candidates, had a relaxed and pleasant disposition, and responded well to the questions.

As with some of the other candidates, I had to nit-pick and dissect each answer to glean pros and cons. That being said, only a few of her answers stood out from the rest.

I was glad to hear that she had participated in a course that prepared her for a presidency. It was good to know that she had enough interest in an administrative position that she wanted to make sure she was prepared, but she wasn’t actively seeking a presidency, which indicated she wasn’t looking for the power or the pay.

I was also glad when she didn’t deliver the “we can’t be all things to all people” line that was so popular the last couple weeks. Rather, when asked about how ESU should market itself, she suggested that we give time to each of ESU’s features by rotation. I much preferred this response.

While the theme of Hugh’s forum was community and experience, the theme of Cruz-Uribe’s forum was paying attention and staying focused. For example, she mentioned staying focused when talking about promoting ESU’s various programs and assessing and implementing change. Though it is absolutely true that a good leader will have clear and focused goals, it seemed rather vague.

Once again, I had to nit-pick to find things I didn’t like.

That being said, she hesitated a few times before she spoke, but it was nothing out of the ordinary. Though she may not have been as immaculately-spoken as some of the other candidates, she still had good answers and knew what she was talking about.

Cruz-Uribe was definitely less intense than Shonrock and Hughes, which was both good and bad. Though I can appreciate a laid back person, I couldn’t seem to put my finger on her personality, and I left feeling less than inspired.

One thing is for sure, the presidential search committee did an excellent job of selecting candidates. Each had their own strengths and weaknesses, and each has the potential to be a good president.

Ellen Weiss

AUTHOR, LEADERSHIP EXPERT STEPHEN R. COVEY TO KEYNOTE BOISE STATE’S VOX DISCIPULI LECTURE APRIL 15

US Fed News Service, Including US State News March 25, 2010 BOISE, Idaho, March 24 — Boise State University issued the following news release:

Boise State University’s Vox Discipuli lecture series will feature author Stephen R. Covey at 6:30 p.m. April 15 at the Morrison Center. The lecture is free and open to the public. Covey will speak on the future of leadership. site 7 habits of highly effective people

Covey is an authority on leadership, a family expert, teacher, organizational consultant and co-founder and vice chairman of the FranklinCovey Company. He is the author of several acclaimed books, including “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” Among his numerous honors and awards are being named one of Time magazine’s 25 most influential Americans and one of Sales and Marketing magazine’s top 25 power brokers. website 7 habits of highly effective people

He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah, an MBA from Harvard University and a doctorate from Brigham Young University, where he also worked as a professor of business management and organizational behavior.

Some of Covey’s milestones include:

* “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” was named the No. 1 most influential business book of the 20th century by CEO magazine * Authored four titles with sales exceeding one million copies each: “First Things First,” “Principle-Centered Leadership,” “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families” and “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” * Latest book, “The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness,” named Best Business Book of 2005 by Soundview Executive Summaries * Recognized with the Sikh’s 1998 International Man of Peace Award * 2003 Fatherhood Award from the National Fatherhood Initiative (he is the father of nine, grandfather of 51 and great-grandfather of two) * No. 1 best-selling hardcover book on family (“The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families”) * National Entrepreneur of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award for Entrepreneurial Leadership Shannon Morgan, 208/921-7436; Kathleen Tuck, 208/426-3275, kathleentuck@boisestate.edu.

Cruz-Uribe focuses on increasing enrollment

Written by Bulletin Staff
Thursday, 01 December 2011 09:56
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Presidential candidate Kathryn Cruz-Uribe discusses her desires to open up relations with community and improve fundraising. The Kansas Board of Regents hopes to appoint the next president by Dec. 16. Jon Coffey/The Bulletin

The fourth and final Emporia State presidential candidate, Kathryn Cruz-Uribe, spoke at an open forum last week for campus and community members, highlighting her desire to open up communications between the town and the campus and her strengths in collaborating with others.

Cruz-Uribe is currently the provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at California State University, Monterey Bay. She is a member of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, which offers a training program for administrators who are interested in becoming college presidents. The program focuses on areas in which the administrator has less experience.

“You look at what the areas are for a president – not necessarily stuff that a provost would do in their everyday life – and you develop your own personal program on how you are going to gain experience in those areas,” Cruz-Uribe said.

Christian Keisler, junior communications major, said that he also thought Cruz-Uribe was very knowledgeable and had plenty of experience to draw from for being a president.

She said she is an active fundraiser, seeing a need and filling it. She helped move the college forward with a dean’s innovation fund to advance college faculty grants as well as starting scholarships herself, for which she did all the fundraising.

She said there were many steps to assessing change at a university, and that the university must set some goals.

“You have to have a relentless focus… you have to stay on track and stay focused (when working on change),” Cruz-Uribe said.

She said that increasing retention requires looking into classes, which have high failure or withdraw rates and figuring out ways to combat those issues in the classes. She also said that raising expectations of students while supporting them would help students succeed in the classroom.

Involvement in recruitment efforts by talking with prospective students and their parents is something that Cruz-Uribe said a university president should strive to accomplish in order to increase retention and recruitment. She also said that a president should be accessible to the community to bring in students and that universities need to tout all of their programs and put its best foot forward to get students in the door.

While curb appeal is critical in getting students in the door, Cruz-Uribe said the members of a university are also of the utmost importance to the university. She said there needed to be balance between infrastructure and people.

“I think the community and campus involvement in the search process has been really good,” said Shelby Schellenger, graduate student in the SLIM program. He also said he thought Cruz-Uribe was very competent.

The Kansas Board of Regents hopes to announce the new president before their final meeting of the semester on Dec. 16.

Charlie Heptas

Hughes pushes for stronger community

Written by Bulletin Staff
Thursday, 17 November 2011 10:02
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Karla Hughes shares her visions for furthering relationships between the campus and community during the open forum Monday in Webb Hall. Hughes was the third presidential candidate to visit ESU. Jon Coffey/The Bulletin

Academic focus and community relations were the focal points of Karla Hughes’, Emporia State’s third presidential candidate, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Morehead State University in Kentucky, open forum address Monday afternoon. Hughes was on campus to answer questions from students, faculty and community members.

“One of the hallmarks of my career has been blending scholarship – teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate level – and what I call outreach or community connections,” Hughes said. “There are a number of things that I have done in my career that show strong definite ties with the community.”

Hughes spoke of her ties to Kansas frequently, as she grew up in Merriam and graduated from Kansas State with both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nutrition. The day before the forum, she said she stopped in the Flint Hills just to get her “Flint Hills fix.”

Hughes said that she was an advocate of shared governance because it allows for shared responsibility. She also said that she supported having active discussions between Faculty Senate and the provosts.

Town and gown relationships were a focus of Hughes address. She said that the college must collaborate more with local businesses.

Hughes also said that the job of the president was to recognize good ideas and push them forward.

“Our limitation is only what we think we can do,” Hughes said.

Hughes said she is interested in the presidential position at ESU because Emporia is the “right kind of town.” She said the town wants to have a good relationship with the university, and that the university has to keep students engaged to keep them in town on weekends. Hughes also spoke of her experiences in higher education, trying to relate her answers to her real world experience. However, she declined to answer what she could bring to ESU that other candidates may not be able to.

Hughes said that the infrastructure at the university was an important part to drawing in students, but that there were many ways to keep them here.

“When we have a candidate like Dr. Hughes that obviously has academics first, that obviously makes a difference to us,” said Rob Catlett, assistant professor of Economics. “When one of the students asked what we do to keep students here … her first response to that was about academics, and that’s refreshing.”

Hughes echoed the opinion of previous candidate Todd Diacon by saying that the university could not be all things to all people and needed to advocate its strengths better.

John Shrock, professor of biology, said that all of the candidates have been strong and that Hughes gave strong academic answers in the forum.

The final candidate will be on campus for a tour and open forum next Monday. It was announced at the Faculty Senate meeting on Tuesday that the Kansas Board of Regents will be on campus to announce ESU’s next president at 10 a.m. on Dec. 9 in Albert Taylor Hall.

Charlie Heptas

Diacon aims to ‘cheerlead’ for ESU

Written by Bulletin Staff
Thursday, 10 November 2011 10:16
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Todd Diacon, presidential finalist, answers faculty and student questions at the open forum Tuesday afternoon in Webb Hall. Diacon said his own experiences and the experiences of those he has known, when it comes to Emporia State, have always been positive. Jenny Pendarvis/The Bulletin

Emporia State’s second presidential candidate, Todd Diacon, deputy chancellor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, spoke at an open forum Tuesday, giving thoughtful answers to questions from the campus and community.

“My number one task and goal and job is to be Cheerleader-in-Chief for the university,” Diacon said. “We need to have a president that goes out and tells the public what is going on here at the university.”

Diacon said he currently heads the “town and gown relationship” between the university and community in Mass., and that he will focus on the importance of this relationship at ESU if he appointed president.

“Improvements to the town will improve the university… it will make it more attractive to students and on the opposite side, improving the university is also good for the town,” Diacon said. “Ideally you ought to be able to fashion a series of win-wins for town and for gown.”

Diacon said he was looking for new employment because the contract of the chancellor he is currently working under was not renewed. As a result, Diacon said he is looking for a new position and is interested in one in Kansas.

“For most of my administrative career I’ve looked for opportunities to get back to Kansas,” Diacon said. “I’m a native Kansan, I’m from Wellington… and I’ve always admired the Kansas approach to education.”

“If you’re in higher education in general… and you don’t like being around students you’re in the wrong job. I have the greatest job in the world because I’m around really interesting students.”

Diacon said he considers himself a good listener and wants those who come to him with an issue to walk out with the feeling that they had truly been heard and that he had considered every option.

“I thought he was refreshing,” said Rob Catlett, assistant professor of economics. “He didn’t always want to tell us what we wanted to hear, but he was honest. His greatest strengths were his listening skills and his vision.”

Diacon said ESU already “walks the walk” but needs to “talk the talk” to recruit more students and help aid enrollment figures. He said that the university could not please everyone all the time, but should focus on its strengths.

He said that while it is important to maintain diversity at the university, the teacher’s college is ESU’s strong point, and it needs to be marketed as such.

“I thought Mr. Diacon presented himself very well,” said Jeff Longbine, state senator and Emporia resident and business owner. “I thought there was a lot of substance in his comments. I was very pleased with his desire to have a transparent and inclusive dialogue with not only students and faculty, but with the community.”

The next two presidential candidates will be on campus for open forums on Nov. 14 and 21 in Webb Hall. To submit feedback to the search committee, submit a survey that can be found on ESU’s homepage.

Once all candidates have been introduced to the Emporia community, the search committee will make its final recommendation to the Kansas Board of Regents. KBOR plans to appoint the next president and have them in office by January.

Charlie Heptas

Sharp-witted Shonrock strategizes for ESU’s future

Written by Bulletin Staff
Thursday, 03 November 2011 09:48
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Michael Shonrock, the first presidential finalist to be named, speaks during the open forum in Webb Hall yesterday at 4 p.m. Shonrock said he would aim for more involvement in student events to make connections between the president and students. Yiqing Fu/The Bulletin

Emporia State’s first presidential finalist, Michael Shonrock of Texas Tech, spoke at an open forum yesterday in Webb Lecture Hall, showcasing a sharp wit and a charming personality in his responses to the crowd of faculty, students and community members.

“I’m very strategic,” Shonrock said. “When you’re a strategic thinker, you think big picture. I have great vision, I think that’s important… but when you’re a futurist you have to learn a sense of patience.”

Shonrock is the first of four presidential candidates who will visit the campus throughout November. Once all candidates have been introduced to the Emporia community, the search committee will make its final recommendation to the Kansas Board of Regents. KBOR plans to appoint the next president and have them in office by January.

The candidate’s names will only be released one at a time, the day before their respective campus visits.

“There are several reasons (for releasing the names individually),” said Vanessa Lamoreaux, spokesperson for KBOR. “The first is to protect confidentiality for as long as possible and the second reason is that this is the process we (KBOR) follow for other (presidential) searches.”

Shonrock, who was introduced as the senior vice president of auxiliary services, enrollment management and student affairs at Texas Tech, said he is actually an associate professor of educational psychology at the university. His administrative position was eliminated last spring due to budget cuts.

Shonrock said he interested in becoming ESU’s next president because he felt it was time to move on and he desires a presidential position. He said he has a “real passion for higher education” and that he wants to be in a place where he feels he can make a difference. He also said he wanted to be part of an institution that someone could return to in 10 years and be proud of what it had become.

Some of the students in attendance said they felt Shonrock had the right ideas about school improvements as well as the right idea about what a president should be.

“He has the tools and resources to make the improvements that we need to see made at our university in order to keep growing and retain students,” said Manny Requenes, sophomore music major. “I think he is a great candidate,”

Samantha Atwell, junior secondary education major, said she liked Shonrock’s ideas about how accessible a president should be for students along with his ideas on improving retention and working on what was already available at ESU.

The primary method for student feedback on the presidential search will be through an online survey on ESU’s website. The survey will only be available until 2 p.m Friday. Lamoreaux said the search committee does not participants to be confused on which survey applies to each respective candidate.

“It’s a process issue, so you don’t want people to get confused… in order for those surveys to be of use to the search committee they would need the results,” Lamoreaux said.

The remaining candidates will be on campus Nov. 7, 14, 21. To view full coverage of the open forum, go Esubulletin.com to access exclusive footage.

Charlie Heptas

President search narrows to four candidates

Written by Bulletin Staff
Thursday, 27 October 2011 16:31
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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

Search looks beyond higher ed.

Written by Bulletin Staff
Thursday, 22 September 2011 09:33
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Wynn

A presidential search update released last Friday reported a high interest in the position by professionals outside of higher education. While some on campus, including Dean Steven Brown, said they were closely watching the situation, none said there was any cause for alarm – yet.

But Deryl Wynn, chair of the search committee, said nothing was off the table and the committee does not want to rule out any candidates just because they might not have experience in higher education.

“If Gen. Colin Powell tells me he wants to be the president of Emporia State University, I’m not going to tell him he’s not qualified,” Wynn said.

Still, some say that the next president needs to have experience in higher education.

“For my own part, I would always rather find someone who has a little broader experience,” said Steven Brown, outgoing dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. His last day is Friday. “These are difficult times. There are challenges we haven’t faced before… I’d be more comfortable if you had someone who had quite a bit of experience in the profession.”

In an email sent to LAS faculty, Brown said he is “slightly concerned” with references in the update to applicants from outside of higher education.

“I concur with statements several of you have made in conversations through the past few weeks, suggesting that the best possible outcome will be found if we locate an individual with considerable experience in higher education,” Brown said in the email.

Brown said he does not believe there is currently a high possibility for a president with no experience in higher education to be appointed, but he does urge faculty and students to “keep an eye on” the situation.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate to focus on those who are outside of higher education that have submitted applications,” Wynn said, “because they’ve not been selected – they have been encouraged to submit, and I’m not sure that they are the best qualified. I don’t want anybody jumping to conclusions.”

Currently, the Kansas Board of Regents plans to appoint a new president by January or February 2012, according to Wynn.

“That sure seems awfully ambitious to me,” Brown said. “If they can pull that off, that’s wonderful – I think that’d be great… I’ll be impressed if they pull it off.”

Brown said from his own experiences, searches like this do not generally move as quickly as ESU’s search hopes to progress, but Wynn said he was confident that the search committee would not need to extend the timeline.

Brown said the primary role of any higher education institution is teaching students, but there are additional responsibilities like interacting with the community. Above all else, Brown said the university president must be able to comprehend the various facets of higher education.

“I’m not saying you can’t find someone outside of education who has those understandings,” Brown said. “It just seems like it would be more likely with someone who has experience in education.”

Steve Catt, professor and chair of the communication and theater department and subcommittee chair for the presidential search committee, said he is not concerned with how the search is progressing.

“Anyone who has a concern with what might happen, I think that’s just anxiety talking,” Catt said. “There’s nothing going on that’s led to any type of concern over what type of person will be hired.”

Catt said the search committee has been directed to refer all media calls to Vanessa Lamoreaux, associate director of communications for KBOR. The Bulletin was unable to contact Lamoreaux by press time on Wednesday.

“At the end of the day, I think we all want to pick someone that’s going to move the university forward,” Wynn said.

Kenzie Templeton

UPDATE: Lane withdraws name from Millikin’s search

Written by Kelsey Ryan
Friday, 05 November 2010 10:03
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Lane

In an email sent to Emporia State faculty and staff this morning, President Michael Lane announced he has withdrawn his name from the presidential search at Millikin University in Decatur, Ill. Lane did not give a reason for the withdrawal.

The email stated that “Most of you are aware that I have been involved in a search as a candidate for the presidency of Millikin University. I had the privilege of meeting yesterday with their Board of Trustees as part of the interview process.

Last evening when I returned home, I asked the search consultant to withdraw my name from consideration. I notified the Board of Regents of this decision simultaneously. I am not involved in any other searches and plan to be at ESU for several more years.”

Millikin is a four-year university in with approximately 2,300 undergraduate students and 40 graduate students, the average undergraduate class size being 23 students. It is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.

Kelsey Ryan/The Bulletin