By Makenna Hall, Staff writer
The dean status for the Sigmund Weis School of Business has been in an intermediate period during the 2017-2018 school year.
Matthew Rousu, professor of economics, was appointed to the position of interim dean on May 1, 2017 and has served in the position since.
This change occurred when the previous dean of the Sigmund Weis School of Business, Marsha Kelliher, was appointed the president of Walsh College in Troy, Michigan.
The search for a new dean has been an ongoing process since last September and should hopefully commence within a month, according to Barbara McElroy, chair of the Search Advisory Council.
The search started with nationwide advertising across various medias, including a nationwide higher education newspaper called The Chronicle of Higher Education, HigherEdJobs.com, as well as specialized venues to ensure that there is a diverse pool of candidates, according to Provost and Dean of Faculty Linda McMillin.
According to the position advertisement posted by Witt/Kieffer, the search firm involved in the process, “The ideal candidate will offer evidence of administrative success in higher education, knowledge of professional business practices, an entrepreneurial approach to problem solving and fundraising.”
As posted in the advertisement, some of the general responsibilities of the dean will include: enhancing and invigorating academic programs, inspiring faculty, staff and students, ensuring the engagement and integration of the business school with the rest of the university, and communicating and collaborating with business alumni.
In all, there were about 50–60 applicants that the Search Advisory Committee analyzed, they said that they sorted through the credentials to narrow the applicants down to about 10. These 10 applicants then underwent more interviews to finally narrow the search to three candidates.
Each of the final three candidates endure an on-campus interview process that McMillin compared to a two-day gauntlet. During this time, the candidate meets with the search committee, faculty groups, staff groups, students, the president and many others involved on campus.
Select students are invited to lunch to talk to and interact with the candidate so they can provide feedback to the search committee.
The rest of the student body, faculty and staff that are not specifically invited to a meeting have the opportunity to meet and talk to the candidate at a 45-minute open session. Some topics that were discussed in the first session included: budgeting, technology advancement on campus, how to consistently engage alumni, the inconsistent ratio of men to women in the business school compared to that of the university as a whole, and a few others.
After the ‘two-day gauntlet,’ a survey is posted for anyone who met the candidate to rate their qualities and share observations.
McMillin said, “We want the best people who are going to be able to bring faculty, staff, and students together. We trust the community to be part of that process. It’s really important… that everybody associated with the business school has had the opportunity to have some input and to then be invested in that person’s success.”
After all of the candidates have been through the on campus interview process, the search committee meets again to review and evaluate their impressions as well as the feedback from the survey. The committee then selects the candidate they see best fit for the position and informs the provost, who with the president will make the final decision.
The committee had its second candidate visit Thursday and it will be after the third candidate visits campus that the committee is anticipating making a decision.