by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine Saint Michael's College has narrowed its search for a new president to three, according to Trustees Chair Mary-Kate McKenna. McKenna sent a letter to the St Mike's community Thursday saying the Colchester college has three current presidents as finalists for the position. Saint Michael's College President John JNeuhauser announced last May his plans to leave the college in June of 2018. The names of the three candidates were not revealed either in the letter or at the request of VBM.
Named 16thpresident of the residential liberal arts Catholic College in 2007, Neuhauser successfully led the college through the USfinancial crisis to dramatically improve its academic standing, the student experience, and facilities. The college recently has reduced staff through buyouts as enrollment has fallen, as it has at many liberal arts institutions across the nation.
McKenna Letter
Mary-Kate McKenna
Chair, Board of Trustees and Presidential Search Committee
December 7, 2017
Dear Members of the Saint Michael’s College Community,
After much work by the Search Committee, we find ourselves in the fortunate and unprecedented position of having three sitting Presidents as our final candidates. In order to assure the strongest set of experienced candidates, we will be using the representational interviewing process to maintain a higher degree of confidentiality at this time. The candidates would like to meet a broad cross section of our community, while preserving as much of their privacy as is feasible in this day and age.
The committee met with the final candidates and each individual was provided an opportunity to present their qualifications and accomplishments. Topics discussed included the candidates’ views on Saint Michael’s College Catholic mission, enrollment, diversity and inclusion, online learning, fundraising and the liberal arts curriculum, to name but a few of the issues considered. The candidates also discussed their leadership styles as well as their prior experience in dealing with the issues facing college campuses currently. They are all individuals with proven achievements at their own institutions.
We are confident that any one of these finalists would be an inspiring and influential leader both on campus and in the broader community.
In terms of the interview process, we will be working out the details in the next few days, but we intend to form staff, student and faculty committees of eight to twelve individuals to represent their various constituencies. We plan to have the candidates back in the area to meet with representatives from all constituencies in January. Then the Presidential Search Committee will receive and discuss feedback from you before the next Board of Trustees meeting. It is at that Board meeting that Trustees will interview the final candidates and after thoughtful deliberation, select the next President of Saint Michael’s College.
We will be communicating again soon to advise you how the process will proceed. We are pleased to be introducing such strong candidates at this extraordinary time in the history of Saint Michael’s College.