BY TUCKER REILLY, MANAGING EDITOR
St. Bonaventure University’s board of trustees met on campus last week for their December board meeting, where a key topic discussed was Bonaventure’s ongoing search for a new university president. With the fall 2021 semester soon coming to a close, the search appears to be narrowing down to several finalists, although it is unclear when the final selection will be made.
“The board of trustees and campus constituent groups spent the week with dynamic finalists to be the next president of the university,” said Tom Missel, the university’s chief communications officer. “The trustees have taken all the feedback from the campus community and are working with the finalists to answer some remaining questions while we thoroughly vet the best president for Bonaventure. We look forward to sharing the outcome with the Bonaventure family at the conclusion of this process.”
The university’s presidential search committee was created in April of 2021, just over a month after the death of former university president Dr. Dennis DePerro. With the goal of selecting a new university president by the end of this year, the committee began accepting applications over the summer.
Meghan Hall, a senior journalism and marketing double major, is the president of Bonaventure’s Student Government Association, as well as the student representative on the presidential search committee. Hall described the organization and goals of the initial search committee.
“There were a number of different constituency groups involved in the actual search committee,” said Hall. “Staff members, faculty members, board of trustees members, myself and several other constituency groups were all present. The goal of the committee was to conduct meetings, review applications and conduct several interview stages in order to present the community constituents and board of trustees with a couple of finalists for selection.”
In October 2021, the committee began narrowing down candidates for the position, after hiring search firm WittKieffer to find applicants. According to the “tentative timeline” displayed on sbu.edu, the board plans to select a president before the end of 2021 and seemingly remains on track to do so: during the board of trustees’ visit on Dec. 2-4, the presidential search committee presented the board with an undisclosed number of finalists. While the new president would not begin their term until July 2022, making a selection around the start of the year would allow more time for applicants to make arrangements with their own institutions and families.
While the exact details of the selection process remain secret outside the board of trustees, Hall is optimistic about the candidates left on the table.
“I have participated in multiple interview processes throughout my time on the search committee, and there’s one takeaway I have,” said Hall. “I think we’re in good hands moving forward with whomever the new president may be.”
