January 6, 2009

From: Ed Glotzbach, Chair, Webster University Presidential Search Committee

To: The Webster University Community


We are pleased to announce the names of the two finalists for the position of President of Webster University, and to inform you of their qualifications for and interest in that position.

Our two finalists are:

Dr. Neil George, currently the interim president at Webster University

Dr. Elizabeth Stroble, currently the Senior Vice President and Provost, Chief Operating Officer at the University of Akron.

In addition to their current curricula vitae, the letters they sent when applying for the position are available to view on this page. In those letters, you will find a good deal of content pertaining to their thoughts about our University.

Also, for your reference, following are the top eight leadership attributes that we determined would be useful in our search to guide our deliberations. I think you will find these useful as well as you consider the candidates when they are on our campus. The attributes we are seeking are:

• High Integrity
• Conveys Self-Confidence
• Communication
• Senior Executive Leadership
• Leads the Institution
• Community Relations
• Builds Relationships
• Ability to Raise Funds
  

As we indicated just prior to the holidays, we will have two days of interviews on campus. Dr. Stroble will join us on January 14th, and Dr. George will be with us for the sessions on January 15th. To recap our schedule and locations for both those days, it is as follows:

7:00 - 7:50        VPs – Library, Room 215

8:00 - 8:50        Deans – Library, Room 215

9:00 - 9:50        Faculty – Sunnen Lounge

10:00 - 10:50    Staff – Library Conference Room

11:00 - 11:30    WSA Board – Library, Room 215

11:45 - 1:15      Lunch with Trustees – Library Conference Room

1:30 - 2:20        Faculty Senate – University Center Conference Room

2:30 - 3:20        Students – Library Conference Room

3:30 - 4:20        Open Forum – Library Conference Room

As I indicated to you in mid-December, our search committee does not anticipate taking a great deal of time subsequent to these visits to prepare our recommendation that will be given to our Board of Trustees. Thus, providing feedback – should you so desire – will need to be done on a timely basis.  Should you have input, I would ask you to provide an e-mail with your feedback and send it to me at ed.glotzbach@tpi.net  I can assure you that all feedback will be retained by me in confidence. Should you wish to copy another search committee member, that is fine, but the message should go to me as well so that I can compile the university-wide feedback to discuss with our search committee. If I don’t receive your e-mail, it will not be included in the summary feedback. We will not provide a form or check sheet, rather, we will rely on you for your perceptions should you want to share them.

We welcome your participation during the campus visits on January 14th and 15th, and encourage you to get in touch regarding any feedback you have once you attend those sessions.

I know not all of you can be with us for these important sessions, but if you can, thanks in advance for your participation in this important activity.