We saw this article in the Iowa City Press-Citizen.
Unclear if evaluations from first search still exist
Members of the second University of Iowa presidential search committee want to review background evaluations and notes about the preliminary list of candidates collected by the initial search committee, but it was unclear if that information was saved.”I don’t know if that exists,” Ellen Brown, the liaison for executive search firm Heidrick and Struggles, told the committee by telephone during a search meeting Friday. “I am not sure exactly what we have.”The second search committee, which is considered an extension of the first committee, was expected to have access to work compiled by the first search committee instead of starting from square one.The initial search to replace David Skorton, who left UI last summer to become president of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., appeared to be at the finish line after seven months and a $216,000 tab, but six members of the Iowa state Board of Regents voted in November to disband that committee and reject four finalists the committee had produced.”It’s been done by a group of colleagues, like this search committee, that I have tremendous respect for,” said UI English professor and search committee member Ed Folsom. “It would seem silly to overlook that.”If more detailed notes could be produced, I would be interested,” he said.At this point, the second committee has brief one- or two-line explanations about why each candidate collected by the first search was kept or dismissed.
“If the reason they were (eliminated) was because they weren’t interested at that time, we might want to take another run at them,” said Lee Anna Clark, a UI psychology professor and committee member.
The search met in open session for about 30 minutes Friday before entering closed session to evaluate candidates.
Also in open session, committee members discussed including experience with overseeing athletics and teaching undergraduates on the evaluation form.
“There are strong personalities, and the president should be prepared to deal with that at the conference level,” said committee member Elizabeth Chrischilles, a UI epidemiology professor. “The president should be a supporter, not a fan. Someone with experience at a major athletic university would be helpful.”
Committee chairman David Johnsen, also the College of Dentistry dean, said the 120 candidates currently in the pool could significantly be reduced in the next two weeks as the committee makes contact with each person to determine their interest.
A decision about on-campus interviews likely would come shortly after calling the candidates and gauging their willingness to participate publicly, Johnsen said.
Johnsen has pegged July 1 as the date to complete the search. Some committee members are saying there is concern about whether the committee is on track to meet that goal.
“How close are you to getting someone by July 1?” committee member and College of Liberal Arts and Science Dean Linda Maxson said of feedback she has received. “I said that is my concern as well, and we need to pick up the pace.”
Copyright © 2005, Iowa City Press-Citizen.
Corra commends the University of Iowa for at least conducting background searches on its presidential candidates. Corra remembers when UCLA, which is near us, neglected to run an adequate background search on one of its fund raisers, only to discover the hard way the man was a charlatan of sorts. How embarrassing for that University to discover that fund raiser was using that position to raise money…for himself.
Corra would suggest to the University of Iowa that when you do conduct background searches, keep the records on file. We wonder, of course, why the service providing the background searches doesn’t have the reports in a database. Perhaps the University didn’t use a service and the documents fell between the cracks.
Corra not only keeps records of all reports, we put out clients on our software system so that they can retrieve any report they ever ordered. Whether our clients conduct criminal searches or any other search, including personal references and credit reports, they can always access that file.
So take Corra’s advice and check them out before you hire. And if you use Corra, you never have to worry about losing your report.
