The University of Virginia’s Special Committee on the Nomination of a President met Tuesday to discuss more than 30 potential contenders to become UVA’s 10th president.
John Isaacson, chair of the executive search firm Isaacson, Miller, stressed to the committee that the closed session was specifically “to review a group of emerging candidates” who have expressed interest in UVA.
Isaacson told the special committee the pool will grow before it is then narrowed by the committee members early in November to a smaller number they would like to meet in person. The in-person interviews should happen in late November, he said.
The presidential search committee discusses the task ahead at a meeting in August. (Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)
“Our team sees today as the early-middle phase of the search,” Isaacson said.
The candidates came to the committee’s attention through recruitment, nominations and applications made on the search committee’s website. More than 1,000 members of the University community have offered thoughts and suggestions through an online survey for the qualities they seek in a leader. At the same time, subcommittees have conducted more than 30 listening sessions encompassing all corners of the UVA community, with more sessions scheduled.
Later this week, the website will be updated with a position profile created from the survey responses and what the subcommittees heard in their listening sessions. The profile will include a detailed description of the role and expectations for someone hired to fill it. It will outline the challenges the successful candidate will confront – or “the hard work of a president” – along with the qualifications, attributes and experience desired in UVA’s next leader, Isaacson said.
Isaacson said the search is progressing exactly as hoped. The committee will continue to be deliberate in identifying the best candidates, understanding them, evaluating them and recruiting them.
"UVA is very well regarded and a great many of the most promising people in the country are in conversations with us," he said. "We are attracting interest from a group of leading academics that would be the envy of any presidential search in the country."
