Presidential Search Begins
The search for Baylor University's 14th president is underway, as the Board of Regents announced the appointment of a Presidential Search Committee and a Presidential Search Advisory Committee in March and listening sessions with alumni, students, faculty and staff began in April.
Dr. Howard K. Batson, PhD '95, then chair of the Board of Regents, issued an invitation to all Regents who were not rotating off the Board in May to participate in the presidential search process. Fourteen Regents accepted an appointment to the Presidential Search Committee.
Batson invited the Baylor Alumni Association, Faculty Senate, Staff Council and Student Government to recommend specific candidates for the 10-member Presidential Search Advisory Committee. Batson selected representatives from the names submitted by each of those entities. Several "at large" members from other various constituencies complete the advisory committee.
"The Presidential Search Committee has the responsibility to recommend the best finalist for the Board's consideration in selecting Baylor's next president, and it will do so having been informed by a steady flow of very good information from the Presidential Search Advisory Committee," Batson said. "We're grateful that all these members of the Baylor family have stepped forward to assist in this very important process that is so critical to our university's future."
The two committees held a joint session on Baylor's campus in late March in which they developed a comprehensive plan for a series of listening sessions with members of the Baylor family, including those represented by the Presidential Search Advisory Committee: Baylor faculty, alumni, staff and students, Texas Baptists and the Waco community.
The plans developed by the committees for the listening sessions included more than a dozen separate meetings to be held in Waco and around Texas. Plans called for separate sessions to help ensure that each group has the opportunity to provide equal input.
Representatives from the two committees met in open sessions with Baylor students, faculty and staff in late April and also held private meetings with representatives from Staff Council, Executive Council, Student Government, the Council of Deans and Waco-area community leaders. Listening sessions with alumni and friends began in May with sessions in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth and Waco; a private session with Baptist General Convention of Texas leaders was also held.
"These listening sessions provided an unprecedented opportunity for all members of the Baylor family to offer input early in the search process," said Joseph B. Armes, BBA '83, MBA '84, chair of the Presidential Search Committee and member of the Board of Regents. "During these sessions, key stakeholders had the opportunity to tell us about the most important qualities the search committee should look for in Baylor's next president."
The search committee has selected the Atlanta-based firm of Baker and Associates to assist with the national search for Baylor's next president. Baker and Associates has earned an outstanding reputation for academic executive searches. The firm has provided executive search services to universities such as Cornell, Georgetown, Harvard, Rice, Texas A&M, Tulane, Wake Forest and Yale and academic medical institutions such as Partners Health System/Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women's Hospital, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. The firm also has worked with academic-related organizations such as the American Council on Education, Business Higher Education Forum, Law School Admissions Council, the NCAA and the National Association of College and University Business Officers.
Follow the progress, offer feedback
Additional information, including a form to provide input to the search committees and audio podcasts of all open sessions can be found at www.baylor.edu/president/search