Brandon Addeo | The Duquesne Duke
As Duquesne’s Presidential Search Committee selects possible candidates to fill the retiring President Dougherty’s position, students might have some say in who will be the University’s new president.
Two meetings between search committee consultants, the Student Executive Leadership Council (SELC) and other student organizations are scheduled for April 22 and 23, according to Marie Milie Jones, chairwoman of the Duquesne Board of Directors and search committee chair.
Jones said the meetings will involve many campus organizations, including the SGA, and will give students an opportunity to “weigh in on the qualities and characteristics” they would like to see in Duquesne’s next president.
According to Jones, the consultants will take questions from students about the presidential search process during the meetings. The two consultants are from a firm named AGB Search, and were hired by the search committee to assist in the process, Jones said.
Matt Broeren, president of the Professional Fraternity Council and a member of SELC, said SELC was involved in the recent selection of Duquesne’s vice president of Student Life. He hopes the group will have a similar role in the current presidential search.
“We asked our questions, expressed our concerns [to the VP candidates],” Broeren said. “We filled out response sheets … which were taken into account in the final decision.”
The Presidential Search Committee named its 11 members in a mass email March 30 and held an initial meeting March 20. Most committee members hail from the Duquesne Spiritan Corporation and the Duquesne Board of Directors. Faculty representation comes from Duquesne School of Nursing Dean Mary Ellen Glasgow and Faculty Senate President Diane Williams.
The members are chosen based on Duquesne’s Executive Resolutions, a series of bylaws for the Board of Directors, according to Jones.
Broeren said the Committee has not yet shared much information to SELC regarding the presidential search.
“I don’t know if [the Committee] has made selections yet,” Broeren said. “I’m assuming after the 23rd we’re going to get a lot more information.”
While there is no set timetable for a decision to be made, the committee will work through the summer to assemble a group of candidates, Jones said.
“I think it’s fair to say the next six months will be a busy time,” Jones said. “We’d like to strive by late fall to go back to the board and the [Spiritan] Corporation with some final candidates.”
