Ambrose searching for a new president
- Font Size:
- Default font size
- Larger font size
By Sheena Dooley | Wednesday, September 27, 2006 |
The search to find a replacement for the retiring president of St. Ambrose University is under way.
Ed Rogalski announced last year he would step down from his post after nearly 20 years. Soon after, a committee of community members, faculty, staff and students from the college started the process of finding his successor by hiring a national firm specializing in higher education placements to head up the search.
“The importance of this position to the university and its future required that we get the best,” said Jim Collins, the chair of St. Ambrose’s presidential search committee.
The committee hired Witt/Kieffer, and consultants from the firm visited the campus earlier this year to talk with students, faculty and the community about what they wanted in St. Ambrose’s next president. They are now using that information to guide the search for the position, which was posted nationally within the past month.
Collins said he expects to have up to five candidates lined up for interviews by November, with a replacement determined by January.
Whoever that person is will face issues that range from growing the campus and student enrollment to finding money to make college more affordable for students.
“(They will have to look at) what St. Ambrose can do to help the community prosper by giving access to higher education,” Rogalski said. “With all of the added diversity the president will have to work their way through those currents to best meet the needs of this community.”
During his time at St. Ambrose, Rogalski increased the physical size of the campus from 22 to 50 acres, while pouring $67 million into putting up new buildings and renovating old ones. Those efforts came after enrollment ballooned by 70 percent with the addition of 40 undergraduate and graduate programs. A number of those programs came in response to a need from area businesses for specialized job training that included educational leadership, information technology and various health sciences.
Rogalski said the next president will have to make connections within the community to help tap into financial resources for fundraising and to get a better handle on what kind of programming needs might exist. Also, they will have to determine how many more students the school can handle and how big it wants to become, Collins said.
“As your stakeholders and student population grows, the university grows with that,” Collins said. “There are more cultural and political differences. You need a president who is capable of being able to interact and grow the university with those changes.”
Sheena Dooley can be contacted at (563)383-2363 or sdooley@qctimes.com.
Timeline of the search process
Mid-October: St. Ambrose search committee will meet to look over the candidate pool.
November: Up to five candidates will be brought in by Witt/Kieffer, the firm leading the search, for the search committee at St. Ambrose to interview. They will then narrow that pool down to two to three candidates.
January or February: St. Ambrose board members will interview finalists and make a selection.
July: Rogalski will step down, and the new president will take over.
del.icio.us
Digg
NewsVine
Fark
reddit» More Local Stories
Highest Rated Articles from the last 7 Days
- Technology News Articles
- Computers, MP3, Phones & More. See Product Pics, Specs & Reviews.
- www.NexTag.com
- 2008 Diet Of The Year:
- Finally, A Diet That Really Works! Seen On CNN, NBC, CBS & Fox News.
- www.Wu-YiSource.com
- Cheap Airfare
- Compare multiple travel sites. Discount web fares made easy.
- www.LowFares.com
- Ads by Yahoo!
