Presidential Search Committee discusses funding, construction

Turnout was sparse, but passionate comment was not lacking at the Presidential Search Committee’s third town hall meeting Nov. 20.

Students, faculty and alumni voiced complaint about the lack of funding for their programs and the desire to have a president who will strengthen the School of Humanities and Sciences and other less developed branches of the university.

“I’m looking for a visionary with an academic background that can strengthen those pieces that really and truly need strengthening,” said Dolores G. Clement, a professor from the department of health administration.

VCU’s most recent $228 million construction project for the new Schools of Business and Engineering reflects the legacy of retiring President Eugene P. Trani, who built up the university’s business and technical departments.

“I think a lot of us feel like this outgoing administration perhaps was not quite as balanced in that sense that it could have been,” said James Farmer, chair of the department of art history. “I would hope (the next president) could look at himself or herself and say, ‘this is where I need other input.’ ”

Students at the meeting complained about the lack of resources and class offerings for their programs, an issue the next president will have to address as the economy continues to weaken.

“The cutbacks have cut all our technology and there are not any other things offered that address management or other skills that can be taught for advancement,” an urban and regional studies major said.

The next president’s experience will play a major role in how he or she will address economic problems. Committee members questioned whether the next president should come from an academic background.

“Someone from outside may be able to garner funds and strength and have the external visibility,” Clement said. “But we need someone as well with the knowledge and ability to strengthen the internal as well.”

Edward H. Bersoff, chair of the search committee, said they are more likely to consider someone who has grown up in an academic environment, but they aren’t closing any doors.

“(Entrepreneur) is a word we’ve used in our meetings,” Bersoff said. “An entrepreneurial notion of the university itself.”

Faculty also spoke of the need for the next president to address VCU’s research infrastructure.

“We as faculty (want to) feel like money’s not going into just buildings,” said Mary Snyder Shall, professor of physical therapy. “Maybe our research also needs to be developed at this point.”

The president will be selected by the Board of Visitors, which hopes to announce Trani’s successor by the end of the
spring 2009 semester.

The selection process and the names of the candidates will remain confidential, but the search committee is providing numerous opportunities for stakeholder input.

“Timely input is important,” Bersoff said. “So, get to the Web site and tell us what’s on your mind. The e-mails that come in, we read every one of them.”

Students and faculty questioned the committee for a clue to what the next president might be like, but the committee failed to give any exact detail as they are still in the preliminary process of choosing candidates.

“If you take the sum of all the input we get, you’d describe a person who doesn’t exist,” Bersoff said. “So, that’s the dilemma we have. We’d like to have all those characteristics that people put forward, but that’s too hard.”