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After nearly three years without a permanent Academic Vice President, the AVP Search Committee has narrowed candidates down to three and is urging students and faculty to voice their opinions.
“We really want to encourage students to attend a meeting with each candidate when they visit campus,” said GSBA president Mike Kelsey, the only student on the AVP Search Committee.
“We trust that what people tell us about their experience in these meetings will give us a much wider and deeper understanding than we can produce on our own,” said professor Jane Rinehart, chair of the AVP Search Committee.
On Monday, Rinehart sent out a campus-wide e-mail naming the final three candidates for the position. The Search Committee has been reviewing applications since October. The final three candidates are Dr. Bruce Congdon, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Seattle Pacific University, Dr. Riall Nolan, Professor of Anthropology at Purdue, and Dr. Patricia Killen, Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies at Pacific Luther University and a Gonzaga graduate, class of 1974.
“Our criteria for possible candidates for the position include a commitment to the mission of Gonzaga, demonstrated success in university administration, leadership skills, and dedication to academic excellence,” Rinehart said.
Each candidate will visit campus over a two-day period in January or early February. Officials hope these visits will show how well each candidate fits in on campus, as well as offer opportunity for all campus members to get to know the candidates in a question and answer session open to the campus community. The Committee will announce the exact times of those meetings in the coming weeks.
“I hope that each person who meets with the candidates asks the big questions they want the next AVP to answer,” Rinehart said. “I would ask people to think specifically about the academic community at Gonzaga and pose questions they find compelling and interesting.”
“We’re expecting some hot-button issues to come up during these meetings, including advising on campus, the study abroad programs, and academic diversity on campus,” Kelsey said. “These are all issues that the AVP is primarily responsible for.”
Attendees will be asked to fill out evaluation forms after their meetings with the candidates. These evaluations will influence the Committee’s recommendation to Interim President
Thayne McCulloh who has the final say on who is hired.
“We hope to have the recommendation to him by the end of February,” Rinehart said. “It will be informed by feedback we receive from individuals on campus who have met the candidates, as well as information we learn from spending time with the candidates.”
Rinehart adds that the final details, including the starting date of employment, will be worked out between McCulloh and the selected candidate.
Since Dr. Stephen Freedman left to accept a position at Fordham University in the summer of 2007, the AVP position has been unstable. Following his departure, Dr. Thayne McCulloh was then appointed to Interim AVP until the departure of Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J. last April at which time McCulloh became Interim President. At that point, Earl Martin, Dean of Gonzaga Law School, began serving as Acting AVP.
An initial AVP Search Committee was put together after Freedman’s departure, but was unable to find a candidate that it believed “fit the mission of Gonzaga,” according to Kelsey.
The Search Committee is composed of 18 campus members, including professors, administrative faculty, and one student.
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