First, I want to thank all of you who engaged with our candidates for the position of Provost and Senior Vice President.  Many participated in interviews, watched the presentations online, and provided feedback for use by the committee and me.

My thanks also to the co-chairs and members of the Search Committee who provided important service to Webster in their recruitment of an unusually qualified and diverse pool of candidates for our consideration.

I have now received the feedback and analysis of candidates from the Search Committee.  I am reviewing all of the available data and will communicate again when the Provost and Senior Vice President is named.

Sincerely,

Beth Stroble, President

April 26, 2010

Dear Webster University Community:

The Search Committee will host a select group of five candidates on campus this week to spend a day meeting with various constituencies. Each candidate's schedule and curriculum vitae will be posted here on the day before their scheduled visit. You will also have the opportunity to watch particular sessions live on our website, as well as complete a survey of each candidate following their visit. Please see notes below for details on accessing these documents.

Monday, April 26

Dr. Sheying Chen
Associate Vice Chancellor
Indiana University Southeast

Curriculum Vitae | Faculty Session Video | Staff Session Video
Share your thoughts on Dr. Chen

Tuesday, April 27

Dr. Van A. Reidhead
Dean, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
University of Texas-Pan American

Curriculum Vitae | Faculty Session Video | Staff Session Video
Share your thoughts on Dr. Reidhead

Wednesday, April 28

Dr. Julian Z. Schuster
Founding Dean, Hamline School of Business
Hamline University

Curriculum Vitae | Faculty Session Video | Staff Session Video
Share your thoughts on Dr. Schuster

Thursday, April 29

Dr. Luis G. Pedraja
Vice President
Middle States Commission on Higher Education

Curriculum Vitae | Faculty Session Video | Staff Session Video
Share your thoughts on Dr. Pedraja

Friday, April 30

Dr. Douglas Sears
Associate Provost and Assistant to the President for Outreach and Special Initiatives
Boston University

Curriculum Vitae | Faculty Session Video | Staff Session Video
Share your thoughts on Dr. Sears

For each candidate, separate sessions are scheduled for faculty, staff and students. Faculty will meet with each candidate in Winifred Moore Auditorium from 10-10:45 a.m. CDT. Staff are invited to the candidates' formal presentation from 11-11:45 a.m. in Winifred Moore, and students can attend a session from 3-3:45 p.m.

For more information, please see the complete schedule and curriculum vitae for each candidate. Please note, these documents are password-protected. Information for accessing these items is included in the announcement of each candidate's visit.

We invite everyone on the home campus to take the opportunity to participate in these sessions and provide feedback to the committee on each candidate. For those at extended campuses, you may watch the faculty and staff sessions live by clicking on the "Watch Live" link above during the session times. You will also be able to submit questions for each candidate through the "Submit a Question" feature on this page. Password information for viewing the live sessions is included in the complete schedule document for each candidate.

Thank you in advance for your assistance in this important process.

On behalf of the search committee,

Dottie Marshall Englis and Paul Carney, Co-chairs

The Search Committee has completed its initial interviews with candidates for Provost and Senior Vice President and the enthusiasm for Webster University displayed by these exceptionally qualified candidates was heartening to witness.

The committee is now in the process of inviting a select group of candidates to visit campus and spend a day meeting with various constituencies. These campus visits will take place next week.

For each candidate, separate sessions are scheduled for faculty, staff and students. Faculty will meet with each candidate in Winifred Moore Auditorium from 10-10:45 a.m. CDT. Staff are invited to the candidates' formal presentation from 11-11:45 a.m. in Winifred Moore, and students can attend a session from 3-3:45 p.m.

For more information, please see the complete schedule and curriculum vitae for each candidate. Please note, these documents are password-protected. Information for accessing these items is included in the announcement of each candidate's visit.

We invite everyone on the home campus to take the opportunity to participate in these sessions and provide feedback to the committee on each candidate. For those at extended campuses, you may watch the faculty and staff sessions live by clicking on the "Watch Live" link above during the session times. You will also be able to submit questions for each candidate through the "Submit a Question" feature on this page. Password information for viewing the live sessions is included in the complete schedule document for each candidate.

Thank you in advance for your assistance in this important process.

On behalf of the search committee,

Dottie Marshall Englis and Paul Carney, Co-chairs

The Search Committee is about to embark on the selection phase of our work.  Since our last update our partner, the firm of Witt/Kieffer, has been working hard to recruit and organize applicants who wish to be our new colleague, from a pool of diverse and highly qualified candidates.

Next week, members of the committee will meet to share reactions to candidate qualifications and make our first round of selections: those whom we would like to learn more about in first round interviews.

We anticipate that those interviews will take place the week of April 19th.  Based on those interviews, a select few will be invited to campus for the community to meet and review.  After those visits, the committee will forward names and evaluations to Dr. Stroble.

We look forward to the Webster community joining us in this process when we reach the campus visit phase of our work.  In the meantime, we appreciate your patience as you respect the continued confidentiality  the committee must observe and your understanding that committee members cannot discuss any candidate with anyone outside of the committee.

We expect to finish our work by the end of the semester so that we may welcome our new Provost and Senior Vice President for the new academic year.

On behalf of the search committee,

Dottie Marshall Englis and Paul Carney, Co-chairs

January 11, 2010

Members of the Webster Community:

Happy 2010!  I look forward to my first full calendar year as a member of this university community and thank you for your continued commitment to a worthy mission and vision on behalf of those we serve.

The formal remarks I will make at this week's spring convocation (to be videotaped for broadcasting to Webster worldwide) will provide an opportunity for me to share my observations of the challenges and opportunities before Webster University and my thinking about the ways we should collectively lead to define the best future for Webster.

I also want to thank those who have been so helpful in this time of leadership transition for us. Webster's strength is embodied in its people, and I feel fortunate to have received such a warm welcome. 

As I have considered the need to reorganize executive level management at Webster in order to best achieve our mission, I take this opportunity to announce that we are creating the position of Provost and Senior Vice President at Webster University, a position that will encompass the current duties of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, among others.

The creation of this position is designed to convey the primacy of our academic mission.  I will soon extend invitations to faculty, staff, students, and administrators to serve on the search committee, co-chaired by Dottie Marshall-Englis and Paul Carney.  Later this week I can provide more detail about the committee and how we will gain the advice and counsel of Webster constituencies as we engage in a national search to recruit a highly qualified and diverse pool of candidates.

I wish to extend my sincere appreciation and gratitude to Dr. Jim Staley, Vice President for Academic Affairs, who has been instrumental in my transition since my arrival on July 1st.  For his long, valuable, and distinguished service, I express heartfelt thanks.

As more information is available about the process of this search, I will be in touch.

With warm regards,

Beth Stroble