Presidential Search Advisory Committee interviews one candidate
Published Nov. 20, 2007
The UM system Presidential Search Advisory Committee, a 19-member group composed of students, faculty and staff, met for the second time this year to interview finalists for the system presidency. Committee Chairman Frank Schmidt said the group only interviewed one candidate.
"We had a very wide-ranging and cordial discussion with the candidate," Schmidt said.
The Presidential Search Advisory Committee meets after the Board of Curators, the UM system's governing board, selects finalists for the position. The committee interviews candidates and provides feedback to the curators before the board makes its final decision.
The board had recently interviewed former Sprint Nextel Corp. Chief Executive Gary Forsee, according to a The Associated Press report on Monday that cited a source close to the search who asked not to be named.
Forsee is an honorary chairman of The Missouri 100, an advisory group formed by interim UM system President Gordon Lamb.
Schmidt, also the chairman of the Intercampus Faculty Council, said he wasn't sure if the Board of Curators would forward more candidates to his committee.
"We basically serve at the pleasure of the board," he said. "When they call us, we meet."
The committee met on the Kansas City Southern building's fifth floor in closed session.
The advisory committee met this past May 22 and 23. Then, on June 1, Board of Curators Chairman Don Walsworth announced that their top pick had withdrawn his candidacy. The search started over from the beginning, with a new set of interviews that started in September.
The next scheduled Board of Curators meeting is slated for Nov. 29-30 at UM-Kansas City.