MORGANTOWN – WVU’s Board of Governors has selected a company to aid its search for the university’s next president.
During a special BOG meeting on Wednesday, BOG member Patrice Harris, chair of the BOG Ad Hoc Governance Committee, said WittKieffer was chosen from among 11 companies that submitted proposals. A committee of BOG members and WVU staff reviewed the proposals and interviewed four candidates.
Among the things that impressed them about WittKieffer, she said, were its understanding of WVU and its proposed plan of execution, including the importance of strategic communications.
WittKieffer is based in metro Chicago. Harris said they’ve led more than 145 presidential and chancellor searches over the past five years.
Harris also announced some tweaks to the presidential search timeline. It was expected that the members of the search committee would be announced and approved during this meeting.
Instead, the Ad Hoc Governance Committee will meet on June 6 to continue the vetting process and will then present the slate of nominees to the BOG for review and endorsement at the June 21 regular meeting.
WittKieffer will also make a presentation on the next steps in the process at the June 21 meeting, she said.
The listening session schedule has also been adjusted, she said. Originally planned to run June through August. Instead, they will run July through mid-September.
The listening sessions are intended to help develop the desired characteristics for the new president through input from stakeholders. They will be held on-campus and statewide, virtually and in-person. They will be conducted by WittKieffer and the search committee.
An online survey for input from a broader audience remains in the plan. With feedback from the sessions, a position specification will be developed, to be approved by the BOG.
The remainder of the timeline is unchanged, Harris said. Following approval of the specification and through November, the search committee will screen and interview candidates. And by spring of 2025, the BOG will interview finalists and choose a new president to succeed President Gordon Gee, who will retire June 30, 2025. The new president will be WVU’s 27th.
These groups will have representatives on the search committee: the BOG, faculty, staff and students. In addition, the Ad Hoc Governance Committee will recommend representatives from these groups: deans, WVU Athletics, WVU Medicine, WVU Foundation, Alumni Association, a regional campus representative, and at-large members.
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