Dear Randolph Community,
I am writing to provide an update on the progress of the search for Randolph’s 10th president.
The Search Committee has sought to have as inclusive of a process as possible. In August, forums were held with our search consultant and various constituencies to develop a draft position specification. The draft document was then shared with these constituencies and town hall meetings were held to seek feedback. The Search Committee incorporated that feedback into the final document, which the Board of Trustees has approved.
The final position specification, which will be used in advertising the position as well as recruitment of candidates, is now available for the community to access at www.randolphcollege.edu/presidentialsearch. The document is not meant to be an exhaustive summary of the College, but rather a snapshot of the history of the institution, its current state, and what we desire of the College’s next president.
We are now at the point in the process where we are actively seeking candidates. You will note as you peruse the position specification, the attributes identified by our community as the most highly desired in Randolph’s next president. Should you be aware of an individual whom you feel meets or exceeds these attributes and may have an interest in the College, we encourage you to nominate them by emailing the search consultant, Dr. Katherine Haley, at randolphpresident@wittkieffer.com. The success of our search will depend upon the involvement of the entire Randolph community, and your nomination of strong candidates will immediately involve you in the search process.
Over the next couple of months there will be a concerted effort to develop the candidate pool. Advertisements will be placed in such prominent higher education publications and online communities as The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Education, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, Women in Higher Education, and the American Conference of Academic Deans, just to name a few. Nominations will be sought from those on campus, alumnae and alumni, other leaders in higher education, and through the work of our consultant.
In December, it is anticipated that this candidate pool will eventually be narrowed to a group of semi-finalists, which the Search Committee will interview. The Committee will then forward three unranked candidates to the Board of Trustees for consideration. The timeline of the search process can be found on the presidential search website (www.randolphcollege.edu/presidentialsearch).
We will continue to update our community on the search progress. However, it is important to note that we are entering the confidential stage of the search, and the amount of detail we are able to provide is limited based on the candidate’s needs and desires. Thank you to each of you for your involvement in this important process.
Sincerely,
Tom Faulders
Chair
Presidential Search Committee