The Florida Atlantic University Presidential Search Committee has more work to do as the search for the next President is believed to continue until next semester. The committee raised concerns about the language of the recommended position criteria and questions about the diverse reach of candidates for the next university president at the Sept. 25 meeting.
Buffkin/Baker search firm representative Ann Yates stated that they will not begin recruiting until the Board of Trustees (BOT) approves their position description, which is estimated to happen in October.
“We don’t have the final timeline because some of this depends on how long it takes to get this approved. That’s when we really start the clock, if you will, in terms of recruiting. And we need a good couple months in the marketplace to work with candidates,” said Yates.
According to Yates, the firm is “looking at somewhere in the winter, January or February” to start reviewing candidates. She continued to say that the firm is already having conversations with potential candidates and will continue to do so over the semester.
Bufkin/Baker search firm, which has been tasked by the university to aid in the search for the next president, drafted the original recommended position criteria. The document serves as a list of priorities for potential candidates to consider when taking the position.
Feedback from the public listening sessions, which ran from Aug. 29 to Sept. 9, supplemented the document. The stakeholders at the sessions included faculty, staff, donors and students.
Earnie Ellison, an FAU BOT and Presidential Search Committee member, was concerned that the language of the document reflected poor morale amongst faculty and staff.
“I realize that during the listening sessions, we were getting good feedback from the stakeholders,” Ellison said. “If I read these certain areas, there is an interpretation that one can get that there is a morale issue that we have, and I just don’t feel that.”
Ellison believed that the way the document was written sounded like the university and its next president needed to start appreciating faculty and staff. He highlighted that the last few sentences of the “Support Growth” section of the document may need editorial revision.
One sentence from the section reads, “… the president must genuinely comprehend and value faculty and staff contributions, advocating for their needs, ensuring their voices are heard and providing the necessary resources and recognition to further their success.”
Bufkin/Baker Search Committee Chair Ann Yates stated that she was the one who drafted the document and that it was written with the stakeholder feedback in mind.
“I tried when I was writing it; I was thinking very positively,” said Yates. “Some of the language in here; this isn’t boilerplate. This was really directly taken from notes and conversations, and some of the language in it actually is almost verbatim.”
Ellison also questioned the verbiage in the last paragraph of the “Foster a Collaborative, Innovative Culture” section, which partially reads:
“The new president should work to further invigorate the university’s culture and ensure that faculty and staff feel valued and empowered. The president will encourage faculty and staff to innovate and create and strive to streamline processes and improve systems that inhibit their ability to capitalize on opportunities.”
Yates changed the header of that section to “Build Upon a Collaborative, Innovate Culture,” so that it “doesn’t sound like something that isn’t happening already, it’s just continuing.”
One committee member, who the UP was not able to identify, mentioned that in these revisions it is important to make sure that the stakeholders are still being represented and that their comments are not being omitted.
“What I endeavored to do was for your stakeholders, faculty, students, everyone, to read this and say ‘Yup. They heard us. They heard what we were saying,’” said Yates.
Yates also mentioned that the “Elevate the Student Experience” section will be moved up in the document to prioritize its importance in the document.
After the committee approved the editorial changes to the document, they moved on to the next order of business, which was approving the marketing plan for the position of FAUs next president.
The marketing plan outlines where the job of the FAU president should be advertised and how much these advertisements cost. The plan shows two main locations that ads are looking to be placed in: The Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed, two news publications that focus on covering colleges and universities.
Yates stated that the Chronicle’s placement of the “Premium Exposure ad” will cost $935 and will remain on their site for 60 days. She said that the “Standard” advertisement for Inside Higher Ed at the cost of $349 will remain on their site for the same amount of time.
“[These ads] will really highlight the university, all those things that we talked about that are going into the background information, again, we see this as more of a marketing tool,” said Yates.
Ellison broached the topic of diversity in this new plan, asking if it will allow the university to reach multiple demographics.
“I question whether or not we’ll be able to get… reaching the women eligible candidates, reaching the Asian American, Hispanic American, Black American through these avenues here,” said Ellison. “It is very important I feel that we do the best we can to get the message out there to get the best candidates. And in my opinion, if we restrict what you are to do, then we may not get the best candidate.”
Ellison wanted to look at “expanding the avenues” in regards to marketing the position to the public.
Yates replied that the search firm came to this decision by conducting similar marketing efforts from FAU’s previous attempt at the presidential search, as well as other Florida universities and their history with presidential searches.
“We consider this a marketing opportunity. Most of the candidates come from our networking, our direct outreach, and our… kind of going after people, rather than just receiving applications,” said Yates. “We’ll get some [applications], but many of the candidates that we’re going to bring in are going to be nominated or we’re going to go after them directly”
Search Committee Chair Sherry Murphy clarified that the search firm was brought in to aid in the presidential search because of their ability to find potential and suitable candidates for FAU’s presidency.
“The value that your firm brings is the extensive network that you all have and the experience you have in reaching out to identify what candidates and people that you think that would align as a good fit for the university, correct?” said Murphy. “So we are really leveraging you and your firm as a primary recruiting engine for us?”
Yates answered Murphy’s question with a yes and stated that this is why she and the firm recommend purchasing the premium advertisement.
“[The ad] will be front and center. It’s not going to get buried in a long list of advertisements,” said Murphy. “But these were just suggested venues but it’s up to all of you to kind of, decide.”
After further discussion among multiple members of the committee on the marketing plan, the plan was unanimously approved.
Before the meeting adjourned, Pablo Paez, search committee member and Florida Atlantic BOT member, asked Yates to “refresh the committee on the expected timeline” of when the firm will receive applications from interested candidates, which Yates said is currently unconfirmed.
JD Delcastillo is the Managing Editor for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email him at [email protected] or DM on Instagram @jd.delcastillo or X (Twitter) @jd_delcastillo.
