In Tuesday's special meeting, the Chancellor Search Advisory Committee discussed updates on UNC-Chapel Hill's chancellor search, including a leadership profile and processes for sourcing and recruiting candidates.
Members of the search committee are working alongside Parker Executive Search, an executive firm that assists universities in high-level employment. The committee is composed of 13 voting members, ranging from representatives of the UNC Board of Trustees, faculty, staff, students and alumni.
What's new?
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Laurie Wilder, president of the firm, provided updates on outreach to students, faculty and staff, and its results.
- Wilder said that campus engagement and involvement in the chancellor search was heavily prioritized.
- With the help of Anita Brown-Graham, Wilder said the firm gathered information from different constituencies and demographics, including alumni, faculty, staff and students.
- Wilder said that through discussions across different groups and a survey with around 2,800 respondents, the firm gauged which characteristics the groups were looking for in a chancellor, points of pride in the University and what issues groups wanted a prospective chancellor to pay close attention to and remedy.
- Survey respondents spanned faculty, staff, students, donors, community members and alumni.
- Respondents provided the following data:
- Factors of pride: Special academic programs, teaching excellence, student life and outcomes as well as a dedicated faculty and staff.
- Opportunities for improvement: Faculty recruitment, support and retention, campus facilities and infrastructure, sense of belonging and student advising.
- Desired qualities in a chancellor: Strategic leadership and vision, community building, protection of academic freedom, understanding research and scholarship and a strong financial and operational acumen.
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Christy Page, chair of the committee, gave updates on the leadership profile, its layout and an expected timeline for when it will be published.
- The leadership profile acts as a briefing for potential candidates regarding UNC, its notable attributes and accomplishments, its values and what is desired in a chancellor.
- Wilder said that while creating the leadership profile, the firm considered how to incorporate input from community members into the profile while attracting the most well-suited candidates.
- “The goal for [the profile is] to reflect positively on our institution and also give candidates enough to get excited about,” Page said. “Enough to know who we are and why they’d want to come.”
- Page said they were able to synthesize the common trends throughout numerous discussions and responses from community members concisely.
- During a call for questions regarding the profile, UNC Greensboro Chancellor Frank Gilliam said that when looking through a profile, candidates are trying to understand a university’s priorities.
- Beth Moracco, chair of the faculty, raised a similar point, saying that she agreed with Gilliam and that it would be helpful to place more specifics into the profile, rather than generalized statements of what is being prioritized at the University.
- Wilder said that leadership profiles are intended to be short reads and offer a glimpse of a university and what to expect. She said that a profile serves as a jumping point into finer details.
- “For a candidate, [the profile] is 90 percent marketing and 10 percent about the university," Wilder said.
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Jen Lloyd, a member of the BOT, said that another element the committee and the firm should keep in mind is the prospective candidate’s fundraising capabilities and how well they can generate money for UNC.
- “This chancellor will be held accountable to a tangible deliverable of private giving without which the University cannot thrive or flourish in the way that we want it to,” Lloyd said.
- Wilder said that fundraising abilities are something the firm will keep in mind when speaking with candidates. Page said that the committee will take a look at the profile and ensure that fundraising abilities have prominence on the document.
- Page said that the leadership profile will be posted soon, possibly in the next few days.
- Wilder also provided insights on recruiting and what methods the firm was planning on utilizing during the selection process.
- Wilder said that the position would be advertised on platforms including the Chronicle of Higher Education and Women in Higher Education.
- She also said that the firm would be proactively recruiting, having developed a database with potential candidates.
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Through extensive research, the firm hopes to have a targeted and proactive approach when recruiting candidates outside of those who have seen the profile.
- “The best candidates will not come to the table,” Wilder said. “They are going to have to be pulled to the table.”
- Wilder said that recruiting can be done through references and existing connections. She also said that the recruiting and search process can take from around four to eight weeks.
- The committee then moved into closed session where they discussed qualifications of potential candidates, how to cater to the current market, pace their search and preserve confidentiality of candidates.
What’s next?
- The leadership profile is expected to be posted soon.
