Presidential search shifts to next phase

By Dave Roepke
August 24, 2017

The search for Iowa State's next president will soon move from collecting applicants to considering them.

Today, Aug. 24, marks the final day for candidates to apply to guarantee best consideration for the opening created when former President Steven Leath left this spring to become president of Auburn University.

After the deadline, the 21-member search committee will meet on campus Sept. 12 to select up to a dozen semifinalists. Committee members also will discuss questions to pose to candidates tapped for interviews.  

The number of applicants for the position will be released Sept. 12, said Josh Lehman, senior communications director for the state Board of Regents. All nominees and applicants are confidential, except for finalists named later this fall. The portion of the Sept. 12 committee meeting devoted to selecting semifinalists will be held in private.

Once semifinalists are picked, the consultants assisting in the search will conduct reference checks and schedule the committee's private interviews at an off-campus, neutral site Sept. 26-27. The committee will select finalists after its interviews.

The number of finalists may be disclosed after the Sept. 27 meeting, but the identities of finalists won't be made public until 24 hours before their on-campus interviews, Lehman said. Finalists are scheduled to visit campus for interviews and public forums the week of Oct. 9.  

In a special meeting set for Oct. 23 in Ames, the Board of Regents will receive the search committee's recommendation, interview finalists and select Iowa State's 16th president.  

Interim President Benjamin Allen has been leading the university since May and will continue in that role until The Knoll's new occupant is on the job in early 2018.

 

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