Wednesday, March 09, 2011

The 16-member search committee tasked with helping select the University of North Carolina Wilmington's next chancellor met Wednesday, March 9 to discuss the top candidates for the job and determine who will be invited to participate in the first round of the interview process.

The committee, working with Parker Executive Search recruitment firm and Ann Lemmon, associate vice president for human resources for the University of North Carolina system, narrowed the field from a pool of more than 90 candidates at today's meeting on the UNCW campus.

It will invite the top candidates to a series of "airport interviews" scheduled for mid-March.
During those interviews, committee members will ask a variety of questions based on feedback received from internal and external constituent groups. The questions cover topics that include leadership, financial management, strategic vision, student learning, teaching and research, faculty and staff issues, external relations, diversity and athletics.

All interviews will take place during closed session, in accordance with the state's open meetings laws, which permit public bodies to go into closed session to consider the qualifications of prospective public officers or employees.

It is anticipated that the committee will complete its work over the course of the next few weeks and recommend its top choices to the UNCW Board of Trustees, which will then forward the names of at least three nominees to Tom Ross, president of the University of North Carolina system. Ross will interview the candidates and present his recommendation to the full UNC Board of Governors for final consideration and approval.

Wendy Murphy, chair of the UNCW Board of Trustees and chair of the search committee, said it is the goal to have a new chancellor named and ready to lead the university by early July.

For continuing updates on the UNCW chancellor search process, go to www.uncw.edu/chancellorsearch.

Media contact:
Dana Fischetti, media relations manager, 910.508.3127 or fischettid@uncw.edu