On Sept. 28, the Presidential Search Committee Co-chairs Ray McDaniel P’17 and Eric Hildenbrand ‘00 notified the campus community about an update regarding the status of the ongoing presidential search following the announcement of President Kathleen Harring’s retirement. The update mentioned many engagement touchpoints, including the series of on-campus listening sessions, the development of the position description and a survey for providing feedback from the listening sessions to nominate individuals for the position. Additionally, it was sent to all faculty, staff, students, members of the board of trustees and alumni as another way to contribute and share their thoughts and perspectives about the challenges, opportunities and qualities the next president should possess. Based on all of this feedback, in-person and written, the team of the search firm Isaacson, Miller (IM) drafted a publicly available position description profile which was reviewed by the search committee and fact checked by various people in the College before its approval.
The co-chairs, who are working with Board Chair Lance Bruck ’89 P’21, invited nine individuals from the board of trustees, college senior leadership, staff and faculty to join the committee. The faculty on the board were selected through self-nomination or nominating others for consideration. Those nominations made up the faculty representation for the committee. “It was extremely important to us, as co-chairs of the search committee, that committee members bring a diversity of experiences and perspectives to our deliberations,” McDaniel and Hildenbrand emphasized. Virtual listening sessions with members of the senior staff and the board of trustees were conducted by the IM team as well.
After the search committee selection process concluded, they met with IM and officially launched the search. The firm is partnering with the committee to support the search process, discuss the opportunities and challenges the new president will face and what attributes are important in the right leader. The firm also manages extensive due diligence in the form of references and background checks throughout the process. Last month, on Friday Sept. 11, Jeff Kessner and Liz Miller visited Muhlenberg to attend the first on-campus listening session, where faculty, staff and students met with the Presidential Search Committee. To assist the committee’s work, they all shared their own perspectives and thoughts about significant traits for the next president. McDaniel and Hildenbrand add, “Student input into Muhlenberg’s priorities for the next president has been especially important, and we were heartened by the great turnout among students at the listening sessions that took place last month.”
“Isaacson, Miller– and this team specifically– brings relevant experience supporting leadership searches at other liberal arts colleges around the country,” Kessner states. “We understand that the board of trustees met with several potential search firm partners before selecting Isaacson, Miller.” IM will recruit qualified candidates to the pool over the coming weeks and ensure the committee has access to the information it needs to select strong candidates. The firm and the co-chairs plan on providing regular updates to the campus community as the search progresses.
