Presidential Search Announcement

Dear Morrisville Campus Community,

With the bittersweet news of President Rogers' decision to retire, it is time to begin the process of selecting SUNY Morrisville's next president. That decision ultimately rests with Chancellor King and the SUNY trustees, but the campus community, led by a Presidential Search Committee, will play a critical role.

WittKieffer Selected as Search Firm

Leading us through this process will be the executive search firm, WittKieffer. Our dedicated consultants, Melody Rose, Jen Pickard and Sarah Seavey, will guide the search from start to finish, in concert with their team. They will engage with the search committee regularly, conduct information-gathering sessions with the campus community, recruit candidates, seek feedback and provide counsel throughout the process. We are fortunate to have their expertise and that of the SUNY System.

Search Committee Membership

The makeup of the committee, with a few exceptions, is determined by SUNY's Presidential Search Guidelines. The members of the Presidential Search Committee will be announced on Tuesday, April 7 on the Presidential Search webpage and by campus email.

Listening Sessions

To begin the process, WittKieffer will hold a series of listening sessions with stakeholder groups to learn more about SUNY Morrisville and the skills and attributes the campus community desires in its next president. Your input is vital as these listening sessions help shape the leadership profile, which is used to market the opportunity nationwide.

The following listening sessions have been scheduled:

• Faculty
  Thursday, April 9 | 12-12:45 p.m.
  Join Zoom
  Meeting ID: 916 6255 6472
  Passcode: 676420
• Staff
  Thursday, April 9 | 3-3:45 p.m.
  Join Zoom
  Meeting ID: 993 0975 4931
  Passcode: 703151
• Students
  Tuesday, April 14 | 1-1:45 p.m.
  Join Zoom
  Meeting ID: 989 4075 7736
  Passcode: 872764
• Community (open to all faculty, staff, students and outside community members)
  Wednesday, April 15 | 3-3:45 p.m.
  Join Zoom
  Meeting ID: 928 9971 9572
  Passcode: 157520

WittKieffer will also disseminate a survey, for those whose calendars prevent them from joining listening sessions. I encourage everyone to participate.

Upon completion of the listening sessions, WittKieffer will begin actively recruiting candidates. We aim to screen candidates and conduct initial and semi-finalist interviews throughout the spring, so that College Council can recommend finalists to the Chancellor and SUNY Board of Trustees in June. This is an ambitious timeline, but I am confident that this unique and exciting opportunity will yield a highly competitive candidate pool.

Search Process and Timeline

We will be operating the presidential search using a representational model. In a representational model, expanded groups of individuals, representing key university constituencies, meet with the semi-finalists in lieu of an open forum during on-campus interviews. These individuals are required to sign non-disclosure agreements and are invited to provide their feedback to the search committee following candidate visits, ensuring that their voices and the voices of the constituent groups they represent are heard.

Nationally, the representational search model is becoming increasingly adopted as a balanced, inclusive approach to presidential selection. This model will offer a key advantage to SUNY Morrisville in its search process. In today's higher education landscape, many senior sitting university leaders are reluctant to publicly disclose their candidacies.

Since only three semi-finalists are recommended to SUNY as finalists and only one candidate is selected to become SUNY Morrisville's next president, the others will likely return to their current institutions. By using a representational model, we will have the benefit of significant campus input (faculty, staff, students and other key stakeholders) while still mitigating the candidates' risk of exposure, thus increasing the strength of the applicant pool. This approach will allow us to attract outstanding leaders while maintaining a process that is inclusive, transparent and reflective of our campus community's voice. I am committed to ensuring that representatives from a broad cross-section of college constituencies can meet with our semi-finalists.

It is our goal to have the next president begin their work at SUNY Morrisville in time for the start of the academic semester. The search timeline has been crafted to support that goal. You may visit the Presidential Search webpage, which will go live on Tuesday, April 7 at noon, for an overview of the timeline and the latest information on the search. We will use this webpage to keep the community informed of our progress. Lastly, I invite you to suggest potential candidates and expressions of interest to WittKieffer at [email protected].

Thank you in advance for your patience, support and understanding as we proceed.