Published: May 13, 2008 12:07 am            

ISU hopes to name president by June 21

Trustees president: Process has identified ‘outstanding candidates’

TERRE HAUTE — The president of Indiana State University’s board of trustees said he remains optimistic that ISU can hire a new university president this summer.

“We’ve had some outstanding candidates in the re-opened [search] process,” said Mike Alley, president of the ISU trustees and an ex-officio member of the search committee.

The 15-member search committee interviewed four candidates last week in Indianapolis. On Wednesday, it is scheduled to meet in closed session to recommend two to three candidates to forward to trustees.

The board of trustees tentatively will conduct videoconference interviews May 28 and then develop its own list of finalists who — subject to their agreement — will be publicly named and brought to campus in early June, Alley said. ISU already has one finalist from an earlier phase of the presidential search.

The board hopes to have a decision by the June 21 trustees meeting, Alley said.

He downplayed rumors that ISU may have to use an interim president for an extended period after Lloyd Benjamin’s contract is up June 30.

An interim might be needed for a short period while the new president makes the transition from his or her current situation to ISU, Alley said.

“The likelihood of an interim [president] for a long period of time is not great,” Alley said.

Ron Carpenter, search committee chairman, agreed there were “some great possibilities” emerge from last week’s interviews.

He said he’s “cautiously optimistic” ISU will find its new president from within the new candidate pool with the finalist still interested in the position.

“We have four people we interviewed who are potentially qualified to be president,” Carpenter said. “We’ll see how the committee deals with the pluses and minuses.”

But Carpenter also cautioned that “if trustees don’t believe we have an adequate pool to bring to the broader campus, we might decide to start [the search] over.”

In April, trustees decided to reopen the search for the institution’s 11th president because two of three finalists withdrew from the search before they were publicly named. That left just one finalist.

Trustees have previously said they would bring two or three candidates to campus for a series of public forums and meetings.

The new president will succeed Benjamin, who announced his intentions last year to step down as president in June 2008.



Sue Loughlin can be reached at (812) 231-4235 or sue.loughlin@tribstar.com.

        

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