Ball State's 13-member presidential search committee met for the first time Dec. 9 to establish the search process and to begin identifying the qualities and qualifications it will seek in the next president.

University trustee and search committee chairman Frank Bracken characterized the task before the group as "the most important function regarding the future of Ball State."

The committee is responsible for conducting a national search before recommending a list of candidates to the board of trustees, which will select the next president. The committee is being assisted by Jerry Baker of Baker, Parker and Associates, an Atlanta-based executive search firm with extensive experience in higher education.

Baker emphasized the importance of confidentiality regarding perspective candidates, noting that this is essential to attracting the very best candidates. Only the name of the individual selected as president will ever be made public.

The committee devoted most of its first meeting to describing the qualities it desires in a new president, and then held an open forum during which members of the public were invited to do the same.

"It's clear from the comments and discussion that we are looking for a strong leader with significant academic and administrative experience," said Bracken. "Additionally the person must balance priorities and work effectively with key constituencies, both internal and external."

"Another important goal is finding someone who can excite people about Ball State and its vision," said Bracken. "There's a sense that we are truly a university of opportunity ripe for greater visibility within the state, region, and nation."

The qualifications identified by the search committee will be crafted into a detailed position description used to aggressively market the job to individuals who may be interested in the position or who may identify other potential candidates. Nominations from search committee members and others in the Ball State community will also be encouraged. The position will be advertised in early January.

Candidate review is anticipated to begin in February, with interviews following later in the spring. While the trustees are targeting July 1 as the start date for the new president, there is no set timeline for the search and the committee has been instructed to take as much time as necessary to identify an appropriate number of excellent candidates.

The position description and other information about the search will be posted later this month at www.bsu.edu/presidentialsearch.

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Heather Shupp, executive director of university communications, at (765) 285-1560 or hshupp@bsu.edu.)