CORRECTION: In a previous version of this article, the committee’s most recently completed phase was misstated. The committee is on track with its timeline now that it has completed its public outreach. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

After receiving what committee chair Joanne Alper calls “extraordinary responses” to its public outreach, the search committee responsible for finding Syracuse University’s next chancellor is on task with its summer timeline.

The search committee has reached the point in which consultants from executive search firm Spencer Stuart have concluded their outreach to the SU community, as well as the city of Syracuse, Onondaga County and the greater Central New York region. Additionally, consultants have traveled across the country to meet with alumni in New York City, Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Los Angeles, among other cities, said Alper, also a 1972 alumna and vice chair of the Board of Trustees.

The committee has used some of this outreach, as well as feedback from the online survey, to create a matrix by which the chancellor candidates will be assessed.

Based on faculty and student input, feedback includes a desire for a chancellor that can ensure “that programs and facilities support the intellectual life of the students,” as well as one who’s an “engaged and energetic fundraiser able to further develop sources of financial support,” according to the online description of the position posted in early April.

So far, every name given to the search consultants for the position has been considered, including alumni and faculty, Alper said. Along with the submissions, consultants are also actively seeking candidates with the desired qualities.

As the committee narrows down its candidates through the summer, the names of specific candidates will remain undisclosed in order to assure their confidentiality, and also to protect their current positions at other institutions, Alper said.

Going into the summer, committee members plan to have a meeting in New York City in mid-June, and then hope to begin personally meeting and speaking with candidates toward the end of July, Alper said.

The search consultants remarked at how passionate the SU community is about the university and the new chancellor, as reflected by the huge response to the committee’s outreach.

Said Alper: “How much people love the university and care about it just puts more pressure on us to make sure it (the search) gets done right.”

Published on May 23, 2013 at 5:21 pm

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