Tulane Presidential Search Update

Below you will find information on the search for a new President and links to different areas. I wanted to point something out that a friend brought to my attention because I admit I didn't begin to read it yet. I wanted to put this at the top before you became tired of reading because the position description is about 26 pages and in it you will find this

Enhance the University Experience 

Tulane is dedicated to providing an outstanding educational experience for its students. In order to constantly improve student retention and graduation rates in the coming decade, it will be incumbent on the new President to ensure that the university optimize the value-proposition of the educational programs, insure affordability and accessibility to foster a diverse student population, and explore ways to secure and enhance the University’s brand and position as a leading private research university. Capitalizing on new athletic facilities and conference affiliation will also help to enhance the campus and alumni experience and give the new president the opportunity to enhance athletics, consistent with the university’s mission and commitment to being a leader in education, research and service.

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September 16, 2013   

It is with great pleasure that we write today to provide you with an update on our Presidential Search. As you know, a Search Committee was appointed by the Board of Administrators in mid-June following the announcement by President Cowen of his retirement effective July 1, 2014.   

The Search Committee was busy earlier this summer interviewing and subsequently hiring a search consultant. We announced in early July that the Committee had selected the firm of Russell Reynolds Associates, one of the world’s leading executive recruiting firms, as its search consultant. We are fortunate that Ilene Nagel, the head of the firm’s higher education practice, is leading the search for Russell Reynolds.   

The Search Committee, with significant input from the Board of Administrators, administrators and other constituents, completed the Position Description that is posted on the Presidential Search website at http://tulane.edu/presidentialsearch/upload/Tulane-Profile-New-Draft-9-13_13.pdf   

The search is very much on schedule. As a result of our efforts to recruit a national pool of outstanding leaders, we now have a significant number of individuals who have agreed to discuss this exciting opportunity with us in strict confidence. We expect the pool to continue to grow as the search proceeds. The candidate pool currently includes individuals nominated by members of the Tulane community, those recruited by our search consultant and those who have responded to our position advertising. This distinguished group features a diverse set of backgrounds and academic disciplines. It is also populated by men, women and minority candidates, the vast majority of whom are presently in leadership positions in AAU research universities and other distinguished colleges and universities. We encourage you to continue to submit nominations until the process is concluded. You may do so at http://tulane.edu/presidentialsearch/feedback.cfm     

We are delighted with the input our Committee has received from faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends of Tulane. In order to further inform our process, we will be hosting three town hall meetings to solicit additional input. The first meeting is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 14 from 5:30-6:30 p.m., and is intended for uptown campus faculty and staff. The meeting will be held in the Qatar Ballroom in the Lavin-Bernick Center.  On Tuesday, Oct. 15 from 3:30-4:30 p.m. we will host a town hall meeting for downtown faculty and staff in the Tidewater Auditorium. Finally, on Oct. 15 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. we will host a town hall meeting for students in the Kendall Cram Room in the Lavin-Bernick Center. You may view the schedule of town hall meetings at http://tulane.edu/presidentialsearch/town-hall-meetings.cfm. We encourage you to attend these meetings with members of the Search Committee.   

We anticipate we will begin to interview candidates within the next 60 days, with a goal of selecting our finalists by the end of the year. Rest assured, the Committee will perform significant reference checking on the finalists and will spend considerable time with each candidate before making its recommendation to the Board of Administrators. We believe we will be in a position to announce a new President early in 2014.     

We are pleased with the progress we have made and with the quality of the candidate pool, which is a testament to the outstanding reputation of Tulane. That said, we are still in the early stages of this search, and a number of candidates are in multiple searches, so we and our search consultant will continue our efforts to recruit and attract outstanding candidates and work diligently to make Tulane their number one choice.  We will be providing additional updates as appropriate, which will be posted on the Presidential Search website. As ever, please feel free to make your thoughts and comments known to the Search Committee via the feedback function on the Search website.   

Rick Rees and Andy Wisdom Co-chairs, Presidential Search Committee