Presidential Search

Presidential Search Update 1

We are looking forward to having Dr. Kim Morrisson from Diversified Search on campus on Wednesday, December 14^th to meet with many members of the College community.  This is a very important part of the Presidential Search as the results of Dr. Morrisson’s visit will help form the profile of what we are looking for in our new President and will guide us as we evaluate the candidates received.

If you are able to attend your scheduled session we ask that you prepare by reviewing our Mission Statement as well as the Strategic Plan and based on these, come up with your thoughts regarding the experience, traits, style, characteristics and other qualifications you believe will be most important for our new President to possess so that he/she may lead the College forward for potentially the next five to twenty years.  If you are unable to attend your group’s meeting, please let one of your colleagues who will be attending know your input so they may ensure your voice is heard.

After the meetings on the 14^th, Dr. Morrisson will be working with the Search Committee to ensure the profile accurately portrays the qualifications for the new President.  Diversified Search will then begin advertising for the position.  During this time there will not be a great deal to share with you on the progress of the search.

Once we have sufficient candidates, Diversified Search will do an initial vetting and ranking of the candidates.  The Search Committee will be able to review all the candidates.  They will use their own review as well as the recommendations of the Diversified Search to determine the first round of interviews.

The first round of interviews will be done very confidentially. At this point in the process, the Search Committee will not be disclosing specific information about the candidates.  Please understand that this is to protect those who will not move on to the next round.

Once the first round of interviews is completed, the candidate list will be narrowed down to probably 3-5 candidates.  Diversified Search will then conduct a very thorough background check of these individuals.  Once these are completed, the information will be reviewed with the Search Committee.  The Search Committee will then choose the finalists to visit the campus for extensive interviews.  Feedback will be gathered from all those who participate and taken into account during the decision making process.

The whole process from profile to offer generally takes five to six months.  The Search Committee and our Board of Trustees is committed to ensuring we have the right candidate.  If we need more time for the search we will take it.

The Search Committee will provide updates like this regarding our progress as we move through the process so that you will know how the search is progressing. Thank you for your input and support.  Together we will find the right President to lead the College into the future.

Thank you.

Sharon L. Hanson

Search Committee Chair

Presidential Search Update 2

The Search Committee would like to extend our thanks to all who participated in the meetings with Dr. Kim Morrisson of Diversified Search on December 14^th.  Dr. Morrisson had a productive day and gained a great deal of knowledge about our College, our mission, our culture, our challenges and the expectations of the new President.  We know it was a very busy week and greatly appreciate all those who were able to carve time out of their schedules to attend the sessions.

Dr. Morrisson will now be taking all of the input, as well as other available information regarding the College and drafting the profile for the new President.  The profile will be used to recruit candidates for the presidency.   It will provide context about the College including information on our history and current state.  The profile will also provide information about the position responsibilities and the key selection criteria.  The profile draft will be refined by the Search Committee appointed by the Board of Trustees.

Once finalized, the position will be posted broadly.  In addition, Diversified Search will reach out to their contacts to solicit input on potential candidates.  During this period there will be very little to report on the search progress.  Once we have a good group of potential candidates, Dr. Morrisson will calibrate the list of candidates and prospects based on what we have told her about our needs.  The Search Committee will then be able to review all the candidates and will determine the strongest candidates for first round interviews.

We will continue to share information with you as it becomes available.  Again, thank you for your input and support as we go through this very important process for the College.

Sincerely,

Sharon L. Hanson

Chair Presidential Search Committee

Presidential Search Update 3

Presidential Search Update 3 February 13, 2012

I am pleased to announce on behalf of the Trocaire College Search Committee that the acceptance of candidates for the position of President is now in full swing. The advertisement has been placed on the Trocaire Website, with the Sisters of Mercy, the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, and the Council on Mercy Higher Education.

In addition, it has been placed through the following:

• The Chronicle of Higher Education

• Insidehighered.com

• Monster.com (affiliated with the Buffalo News)

• Careerbuilder.com (affiliated with the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

• American Association of Community Colleges

• AsiansinHigherEd. com

•Diverse: Issues in Higher Education (diversejobs.net)

•Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education

•The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education

• Women in Higher Education.

We believe that this broad level of posting will provide us with a qualified and diverse group of candidates. To help keep you informed as we move through the search, we will soon be launching a webpage that is devoted to the Presidential Search. You will be able to access it from the Trocaire College website home page. (www.trocaire.edu) Watch for more news on that soon. We are committed to keeping the process as transparent as possible and will share as much information as we can with you without violating necessary confidentiality.

Thank you for your support. Please share our position advertisement with any you feel are qualified and a good fit for Trocaire College.

Sincerely,

Sharon L. Hanson Chair Presidential Search Committee

Presidential Search Update 4

March 1, 2012

Our Presidential Search webpage is now active! It includes a tentative timeline for the search, the updates sent out thus far, the members of the Search Committee, and the full position description. Please take a minute and check it out! Go to www.trocaire.edu then either from the main banner for the Presidential Search click on “more” or use the drop down menu “About Trocaire” and click on “Presidential Search”. We will regularly update this site to help keep you informed about the progress of the search.

The search is going well. We are receiving a good response from potential candidates. Our consultant, Diversified Search, is currently recruiting and reviewing candidates. This part of the process will continue for a while as we reach out to the broadest possible candidate base.

Once the initial vetting of candidates is completed, the Search Committee will have the opportunity to review the applications of all candidates. From there an initial cohort will be interviewed privately by the search committee. The names of the candidates interviewed at this level will not be released. This is to maintain as much confidentiality as possible for the candidates as they will more than likely all have current positions that they would not want to be compromised should the committee decide they are not a viable candidate.

The finalists will be brought on campus for interviews with a wide representation of the various constituencies. We are hopeful these interviews will happen prior to the completion of the Spring semester.

Please continue to watch for additional updates.

Thank you.

Sharon L. Hanson

Chair Presidential Search Committee

Presidential Search Update 5

March 22, 2012

We are pleased to have received a strong response to our position posting. The candidates are a mixed group from many different areas and even other countries! They have varied backgrounds, experience and education. We are very pleased with the variety of applicants.

Diversified Search, the consulting firm assisting us with the search, is currently interviewing and vetting candidates. They will do an initial grouping (A’s, B’s C’s) and then meet with the Search Committee to review the candidates. At any point in the process the Search Committee has the ability to move candidates into different groupings if they feel a candidate has been placed inappropriately.

Once all the candidates are vetted, the Search Committee will determine which candidates to bring in for interviews. The decision will be based on how well the committee feels the candidate meets the requirements of the position as set forth in the position description that was developed after gathering input from the college community last December.

We are planning these interviews for mid-late April. As I mentioned in an earlier update, this is a confidential process so we will not be releasing the names of the candidates being interviewed. This is to maintain as much confidentiality as possible for the candidates as they will more than likely all have current positions that they would not want to be compromised should the committee decide they are not a viable candidate or the candidate should decide Trocaire is not the right place for their talents.

At this point, we are hopeful that the on campus interviews with 3-4 finalists will occur the week of April 30th. This is based on the assumption that the Search Committee will be able to thoughtfully decide which candidates to bring to campus and the candidates can be scheduled during this time period.

Each candidate will be on campus for one day. During that day they will meet with as many constituencies as possible. The Search Committee is still working on putting together a draft schedule but we will share the information as soon as we can.

So as you can see we are moving right along in our process to find the best possible candidate to lead the College after Dr. Hurley’s retirement. We will continue to provide updates as we go through the next steps in the process. Thank you for your continued support.

Sharon L. Hanson

Chair Presidential Search Committee

Presidential Search Update 6

April 27, 2012

Sharon L. Hanson, Chair of the Trocaire College Presidential Search Committee is pleased to announce that after extensive sourcing and interviewing, three finalists have been invited to the College to meet with a wide variety of college groups.  All three of the candidates have extensive experience in higher education.  The candidates are:

Dr. Gary Brown -  Currently Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Mercyhurst University, where he previously had full responsibility for the Northeast Campus of Mercyhurst.  Dr. Brown earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Educational Administration and Higher Education and a Master of Science in College Student Personnel from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.  He holds a B.A. in Biology from the College of Saint Rose.

Dr. Bassam Deeb – Dr. Deeb serves as Vice President for Student Services at Niagara County Community College with direct responsibility for Admissions, Athletics, Financial Aid, Registration & Records, Student Development, Student life and the Child Development Center.  He has earned his Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from Kent State University and his M.Ed. in College Counseling and Student Personnel and B.A. in Geography from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Dr. Thomas Kowalik – Dr. Kowalik is currently the principal academic and administrative officer at Binghamton University for Continuing Education and Outreach which he founded to better serve adult and nontraditional students.  He earned his Ed.D in Adult Education from Syracuse University and his M.Ed. in Counseling from the University of Miami.  He also holds a B.A. in Music Education from Alfred University.