THE SEARCH FOR AN INTERIM PRESIDENT THE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER Wooster, Ohio The College of Wooster Board of Trustees has announced a search for an interim president, the appointment to become effective this summer, 2015. The search presents an uncommonly attractive opportunity for interim service and is launched at a moment of significant institutional progress. Wooster is educationally vital, financially strong, structurally sound, and emotionally whole. The interim president will be surrounded by a talented senior leadership team, an engaged and increasingly diverse student body, a highly regarded and motivated faculty, and a dedicated support staff. The interim president will be able to rely on an affirming Board of Trustees, whose own leadership team is closely in sync with the college program and whose involvement will provide value added to the interim president s year-long appointment (2015-2016). A distinctive national liberal arts college, Wooster is committed to the continued shaping of high quality educational programs and policies as expressed through its current mission statement (http://www.wooster.edu/about/leadership/mission/), which offers a foundation for this community of independent minds, working together to prepare students to become leaders of character and influence. ABOUT THE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER Founded by Presbyterians as a co-educational institution in 1866, the University of Wooster discontinued all graduate and professional programs (including a medical school) in 1915, in order to concentrate on undergraduate education. To reflect its sharper focus in the liberal arts and sciences, the school was renamed The College of Wooster at that time. Wooster became independent in 1969, when the Presbyterian Synod of Ohio relinquished ownership and transferred its assets to the college s Board of Trustees. Today, The College of Wooster is the nation s premier liberal arts college for mentored, undergraduate research. Wooster offers an excellent, comprehensive liberal education, culminating in Independent Study, a Signature Work for all students, which is a rigorous, in-depth project of inquiry or creative expression. By working in partnership with a faculty member to conceive, organize, and complete a significant project on a topic of the student s own choosing, every Wooster student develops abilities 1
valued by employers and graduate schools alike: confidence, independent judgment, creative problem solving, and strong written and oral communication skills. Wooster is a diverse, supportive, unpretentious community of learners where students can be themselves, discover and pursue their passion, and forge lifelong bonds with faculty, coaches, staff, and one another, thereby enriching their college experience and sustaining the college s tradition of excellence. Beyond this, three core messages provide evidence of Wooster s distinctiveness. Wooster is America s premier college for mentored undergraduate research Only two schools - - Princeton and Wooster - - have made both U.S. News & World Report lists of schools with outstanding undergraduate research and senior capstone programs, every year since the magazine began compiling those lists in 2002. Students can begin working with faculty on research in their first year. Every senior works one-on-one with a faculty mentor to conceive, organize, and complete a significant piece of original research, scholarship, or creative expression. Wooster boasts a distinctive student spirit and ethos Roughly 1/3 of Wooster students perform in a musical ensemble, 1/3 compete on a varsity team, and 1/4 participate in theatre or dance, on a campus with 120 active student organizations. Eighteen Academic All-Americans have been recognized since 2002, during which time the men s basketball team has appeared three times in the NCAA Division III Final Four. The theatre department s Nocturne was performed at Kennedy Center in 2007, 900+ students turned out for a Homecoming cricket match in 2010, and the college was 2008 Moot Court national champions. Wooster is an integral part of a vibrant community beyond the campus boundaries A strong and diversified local economy provides opportunities for Wooster s people before and after graduation. The area s commercial trade provides great locally owned restaurants and shops, plus several national chains. Mohican State Park s 1,100 acres and Vulture Knob s mountain bike trails are among several areas that provide outdoor recreational activity in close proximity to campus. The College s stunningly handsome campus occupies 248 acres and is located 60 miles southwest of Cleveland and 90 miles northeast of Columbus in the city of Wooster, OH, (population 26,000). Enrolling approximately 2,000 students, the College is in an enviable position of selecting 550 members of its firstyear class from more than 5,000 applicants. Last fall s first-year students included 12 percent from 20 other countries and 22 percent matriculated as U.S. students of color. The current student/faculty ratio is 11 to 1 and 97% of the Wooster faculty hold the Ph.D. or a terminal degree. The college has an operating budget of $80M, an endowment of $271M, and only $28M in outstanding debt. 2
THE INTERIM PRESIDENT S AGENDA It is widely agreed that the interim president s main focus in the coming year should be to sustain the college s significant sense of momentum and to maintain current institutional direction. At the same time, this opportunity is not intended to be one of caretaker. Several important initiatives are underway and, taken together, help to define the agenda of expectations for the interim president. Nurturing the Liberal Arts/Promoting Wooster s Identity The interim president must be an advocate for the value of the liberal arts. In particular, her/his ability to communicate with clarity and elegance the concept of Mentored Undergraduate Research will be essential. Through its LEAP Initiative, AAC&U recently held up Wooster s cornerstone Independent Study program as a high-impact practice. New research from the Gallup Organization points to the long-term benefits of mentoring during college to adults sense of well-being in work and family/community engagement. Maximizing the marketing impact of these newest examples of external validation for the long-term relevance of Wooster s program will be important. Reinforcing the Strategic Paradigm In recent years, conversations and planning around Wooster s future have moved from operational to strategic. The Board of Trustees has adopted three long-term strategic objectives: (1) To fulfill Wooster s educational purpose with distinction; (2) To strengthen the foundation of The College of Wooster; and (3) To sustain Wooster s momentum by developing a sustainable culture of planning. At the beginning of each academic year the president and board chair draft a strategic priorities memo within the context of the college s long-run strategic plan and goals. At the conclusion of each academic year the administration and board engages in a thorough assessment of accomplishments. The interim president s ability to understand and articulate Wooster s institutional activity in strategic terms will be essential. Two specific threads run through the strategic fabric evolving at Wooster. Earlier this year, the faculty s Financial Advisory Committee was replaced by the Strategic Planning and Priorities Advisory Committee (SPPAC) by a unanimous vote of the faculty and with full ratification by the trustees. The responsibility of the SPPAC is to advise and counsel the President on strategic planning and the determination of resource allocation, to consult with campus constituencies on strategic planning and priorities, and to regularly apprise the faculty of issues under discussion. In its ongoing advisory capacity, SPPAC will benefit from the support and guidance of the interim president as it begins to develop its agenda and further adopt a strategic approach to consideration of the key issues in Wooster s future. During the 2014-2015 academic year all campus constituencies engaged in a transparent process, labeled the Sustainable Budget, which identified and prioritized revenue enhancement and cost reduction opportunities. Consistent with the third long-term strategic planning objective of developing a sustainable culture of planning, it will be important during the coming academic year to evolve the momentum initiated by the Sustainable Budget process toward mission-based budgeting and future strategic budget planning processes that optimize the 3
allocation of resources and facilitate achievement of Wooster s mission. The interim president can help to sustain and evolve a strategic planning paradigm at Wooster. Engaging a Strong and Highly Capable Senior Staff However seasoned and experienced the interim president will be, she/he will inherit a gifted administrative team as the president s cabinet. In a oneyear assignment, it should be reassuring that the interim president can count on the talents of the senior leadership team at Wooster for support and guidance. Perhaps no other nexus will be more important in sustaining the college s current direction and momentum than the partnership established between the interim president and the senior leadership team. Moreover, the interim president will be called on to manage complex day-to-day operations of the college, with all the expected occurrences and unexpected developments that are a part of the college s life. Mature judgment and experience, in concert with the activity of the leadership team, will be expected to guide Wooster smoothly through the coming year. Sustaining an Emphasis on Diversity Wooster has been enriched by significant accomplishment in diversifying its student body and faculty. Ongoing discussions and continued qualitative growth based on a more diverse community are at the heart of this high-profile Wooster initiative. Following a comprehensive listening study, the current president concluded that it is not possible to strike out in bold new directions with regard to our work for diversity and inclusion during this time of presidential transition, but we must continue to move forward. The intercultural competence of the interim president is expected to provide ongoing traction for developments that are currently focused in the recently renamed Center for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI) and to work with the recently established Diversity and Inclusion Coordinating Council. CDI merges student life and curricular development with programming and outreach, and reflects Wooster s social, multicultural, gender and sexuality, faith, and political heterogeneity. Providing Stability to Wooster s Fund Raising Activity As the interim president provides a public face and sign of stability for Wooster in the coming year, that role takes on added importance for the major capital campaign that is now in its second year. It is not anticipated that the interim president will be involved in extended asks for the campaign, but her/his role as a symbol of Wooster s strength will be important at this stage of the campaign. An exception to this limited fund-raising responsibility might occur with the last steps in the drive to complete funding for the new science building at Wooster. More than half of the $40 million cost has already been raised. The Vice President for Development, supported by the Campaign Steering Committee, is working on several significant opportunities to raise the remainder. Design plans call for construction to begin at the conclusion of the interim year, pending the outcome of fundraising and debt service. Offering Fresh Perspective The fresh eyes of an experienced leader can provide value- added to Wooster s overall program. It is hoped that as the coming year progresses, the interim president will be able to offer counsel about possible opportunities for change in various aspects of the college s future 4
program. Such guidance can also be helpful in the smooth transition to the permanent president, to be completed by July 1, 2016. DESIRED INTERIM ATTRIBUTES Creativity, intellectual curiosity, idealism, and engagement all help to define expectations for interim leadership. A professional reputation for setting high standards and personal characteristics of warmth, authenticity, and integrity will be important. Understanding of the academy is essential. The successful interim president at Wooster will be: A passionate advocate for the liberal arts, experienced in a setting where mentoring, teaching, learning, and scholarship are highly valued; A strategic thinker who values the creative process, who can lead by ideas, and who is committed to collaboration as a means of articulating priorities and implementing plans; An experienced leader, capable of dealing with complex issues and making difficult decisions; An astute manager, who can engage Wooster s human resources at all levels; A person of financial acumen, who will be informed and strategic when dealing with all aspects of Wooster s fiscal program; A person of intercultural competence and global perspective, committed to promoting diversity in its many forms; An enthusiastic campus presence, actively engaging in the life of the campus and modeling traits that will sustain Wooster s sense of community; A person of genuine humility, who recognizes the coincidental temporary nature and long-term impact of her/his assignment. THE APPOINTMENT PROCESS The interim search committee hopes to make a recommendation to the Wooster Board of Trustees in early-may. Dr. Thomas B. Courtice of AGB Search is assisting with this search. Nominators and prospective candidates may contact him at tbc@agbsearch.com or at 614/395-3229. All inquiries and applications will be received and evaluated in full confidence. 5