By Dom LoVallo
Managing Editor
In an email sent Nov. 18, campus officials notified the campus community of the hiring of Dennis DePerro, Ph.D. as the university’s next president. But what went into choosing him as the next president?
It was March 1 when the presidential search committee was officially named. Bonaventure’s board of trustees named five board members and five campus representatives to the committee that ultimately helped pick Bonaventure’s 21st president.
Pauline Hoffmann, Ph.D., the dean of the Jandoli School of Communication, was a member on the search committee and said that this eight-month process was different than what a lot of people expect when an organization searches for a top position.
“Looking for folks at this level, presidents and even provosts and so on, is so very different in academia than it would be in the actual real world,” said Hoffmann. “You would never need a process like this to find a president of a company… So I think that’s something that some of my colleagues even don’t realize. This is unusual what we do in academia.”
Members of the committee said, including Parker Suddeth, coordinator of the Damietta Center for multicultural student affairs, they were were honored to be involved in the process of looking for a new president.
“It was quite a wonderful opportunity to be part of such an amazing change within the institution,” said Suddeth. “I think that it allowed me to look at the institution in a multitude of different ways and really gave me some insight and more of a vision, so to speak, looking forward in how and what ways a president could build upon Sr. Margaret’s successes and take us into whatever the future holds for St. Bonaventure which is only bright at this point.”
The students also had a say in who was going to be their next president. Haylei John, a junior dual international studies and Spanish major, was chosen to represent the student body for the committee. She enjoyed the respect and equality shown to her even though she was the youngest member of the committee.
“I was really involved throughout all the process which was important to me so that the student voices could be heard,” said John. “And what I think was great about the presidential search committee is that every member of the committee was held as equals… Even though I was the youngest one on the committee, I don’t have a doctorate [and] I’m just a student, they listened to my voice. My input was just as important as everyone else’s, so I really valued that.”
Every two weeks the committee at least had a conference call to stay updated.
Witt/Kieffer, an executive search firm, was in constant contact with the committee and also kept it on track throughout the search, said Hoffmann.
John wanted someone the students could interact with, and she felt DePerro is the kind of guy they should be excited about.
“I think that he’s just very personable. And I think that’s important at St. Bonaventure because it is such a community campus. We have that special feel here that you can’t get at other universities, where you get that family feel. He really brings that and I think that when you’re looking for a university president at a place like St. Bonaventure, you have to think about the fit and the relationships he’ll have with the entire community, especially the students on our side. And I think that he’ll really bring that forward and we can look forward to new innovation and also seeing him around campus, so he won’t just be a figure.”
Now that the search is over, members have expressed that even though this was a lot of work, they are going to miss the constant interactions with their peers.
“It’s a relief, but I’ll also say I’m kind of sad,” said Suddeth. “I’m glad we found someone to lead Bonaventure into the future, and I feel extremely confident in our decision as a university and as a committee, but I do feel a little sad because I made some great relationships with everyone on the search committee.”
DePerro takes office June 1.
lovalldv15@bonaventure.edu
