A Start For The Presidential Search
The search committee looking for a new president for Duke University is asking for nominations, comments and advice from members of the Duke community
Duke's new presidential search committee 'hasn't discussed a single name yet,' according to its leader, but has received more than 100 letters or messages with names, advice and comments from members of the Duke community.
'I'm very optimistic,' said Robert K. Steel, vice-chair of the Board of Trustees and chair of the presidential search committee, after the committee held its first meeting on Saturday afternoon. Its members spent much of the session getting to know one another and agreed to a four-stage process for producing one or more names for the trustees to consider in time to elect Duke's ninth president by February 2004.
The first step was for the trustees to form the search committee, whose 16 regular members include Steel and Sara S. Beale, Charles L. B. Lowndes Professor in the School of Law, who serves as the committee's vice chairman. N. Allison Haltom, vice president and university secretary, is the executive vice chairman and a non-voting ex-officio member of the committee. Board Chairman Peter M. Nicholas and Nancy B. Allen, who chairs the Academic Council, are both ex-officio members.
The committee has now embarked on the second stage, which is to identify the qualities it desires in the new president. It hopes to publicize these 'criteria and qualifications' on the Web and elsewhere before the end of June. Then the committee will focus on vetting possible candidates and, finally, on narrowing down its list to just one or a few names for consideration by the full Board of Trustees.
The search committee includes six trustees in addition to Nicholas and Steel, as well as faculty members, students and representatives of the alumni and staff. However, Steel emphasized that the committee will not share its deliberations with other trustees '" or with anyone '" until it has finished its assignment.
Steel said there was agreement at the opening meeting that Duke's new president should combine academic excellence with an ability to run a complex organization and leadership skills that range from communications to fund-raising. Stressing that 'it's an open field now,' he invited further comments from faculty, staff, students and others. The committee's e-mail address is pres-search@duke.edu.