An 11-member committee has been named as the search committee for a new UND president.
Board of Higher Education member Casey Ryan will chair the committee. Ryan said a Request for Proposals will be drafted for a consultant to help in the process, and the committee will be working on a job description for the president.
"We will have a line that says, 'Preference will be given to UND-or-North Dakota relationships," Ryan told the Board. "We feel that's very important to what UND and the Grand Forks and overall UND community need."
Ryan said the Committee will begin meeting at the end of July. And he said he thinks it will take about four to five meetings to come up with a list to recommend to the Board.
"We will give you at least three names," Ryan said. "If we feel there are more that could potentially be part of it, we will send you more names."
Board member Dan Traynor – who will become the chairman of the Board’s Governance Committee – said he will offer some ideas to university presidents’ contracts, for new hires going forward.
"I've asked legal counsel to prepare a more robust and complete contract for the presidents," Traynor said. "It may include extension of tenure to whomever may be hired for the position of president, and also may contain more robust provisions to encourage that person to potentially stay on the job."
Offering presidents tenure has been the subject of some controversy among faculty at the 11 colleges and universities.
"You can expect some pushback on tenure," said faculty representative Birgit Pruess.
The new president will replace Mark Kennedy, who took a job in Colorado.
Co-chairing the UND Presidential Search Committee are Dr. Casey Ryan, SBHE member, and Dr. Dennis Elbert, UND alumnus. Other committee members include Steve Burian, UND alumnus; Howard Dahl, UND alumnus; Joshua DeMorrett, UND alumnus; Gracie Lian, UND student president; Dr. Cynthia Lindquist, UND alumnus, president of Cankdeska Cikana Community College;Whitney Maine, UND Staff Senate president; Dr. Daphne Pedersen, UND faculty; Dr. Paul Todhunter, UND Faculty Senate president; DeAnna Carlson Zink, UND Alumni Foundation chief executive officer. Ex-officio members of the committee include NDUS Chancellor Mark Hagerott and Mayville State President Brian Van Horn.
