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Regents Begin Search for New University System Chancellor

Posted on: Thursday, 4 August 2005, 21:00 CDT

Aug. 4--The University System Board of Regents launched an ambitious search for a new chancellor Wednesday and could be interviewing final candidates by early November.

Dan Parker, of the Atlanta-based executive search firm Baker-Parker, told the regents he expected to present them with about 14 candidates for review in mid-October. From that list, the regents would be asked to select about 10 to be interviewed the first week of November.

If all goes as planned, the regents could interview finalists during their Nov. 15-16 board meeting and name a new chancellor in December.

"This is a very adequate timeline," said Parker, who has overseen several University System searches. "We like to work on a four-month period."

Some regents have said they would like to have a new chancellor Jan. 1, but they recognize that the chosen candidate may not be able to start work immediately.

"That doesn't mean the person will be in the office working by Jan. 1," said Tim Shelnut, Board of Regents chairman.

The new chancellor will replace Tom Meredith, who announced last month he had accepted a job as commissioner of the Mississippi higher education system. Meredith begins that job Oct. 1.

The regents will have a special meeting next Thursday to name an interim chancellor, a decision they deferred on Wednesday because they had not finalized the details of the contract. Senior Vice Chancellor Corlis Cummings, the regents' legal counsel, is expected to be named to the post. Cummings, an African-American, would be the first woman and first minority to hold the position, either permanently or as interim, said regents' spokeswoman Arlethia Perry-Johnson.

Parker said he would immediately begin advertising the chancellor's position in higher education publications, including those geared to minorities and women. Candidates' identities would remain secret, he said.

Also Wednesday, the regents approved an aggressive plan to improve retention and graduation rates for students in the state's colleges and universities. Nationally, an average of 54.3 percent of all college students graduate within six years. In Georgia, the rate is 43.7 percent. Only eight states have a worse college graduation rate than Georgia, according to regents' data. The board included $3.5 million in its budget request for fiscal 2007 to pay for programs designed to improve student retention and graduation.

The regents also will explore ways to encourage students to graduate in four years rather than in five or six. They plan to consider incentives for students who take larger course loads each semester and disincentives for those who don't.

"We need them out; we need their seats," Meredith said.

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Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

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