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SIU Carbondale Chancellor Search Update

April 8, 2020

To the university community:

As you know, a Search Advisory Committee has been looking for a new chancellor. For the past two months it has been reviewing application materials and screening candidates. I want to tha nk the committee for its dedication and good judgment in the selection of the finalists. You will be hearing about them and their campus visits on Thursday.

For your information, we are proceeding with the search despite the unusual circumstances of the COVID-19 outbreak. This situation will limit the large face-to-face participation of the campus during the interviews. It’s just not business as usual, but we must move ahead with the search because it is in the long-term interest of the university community. The campus needs permanent leadership, as soon as possible, and delaying the search could result in us losing some of our strong candidates.

I am re-assured by the Search Advisory Committee chair, Dr. Marc Morris, who is working diligently to elicit the broadest possible campus response to the finalists. Although fewer people will be able to attend the face-to-face meetings, the committee will make it possible to participate remotely. The public forums will be streamed live and posted on the webpage for the search: . I invite you to view them and complete the survey prepared by the Applied Research Center. We need to consider your views of the finalists in the final decision.

In addition, I am reminded of a comment shared with me years ago by a search consultant that hiring decisions should be 25% CV, 25% interview, and 50% referencing, particularly off-list referencing. This is where you all can be very helpful. The academic world is often a small world, and you may know people who have worked with our candidates in their current or previous roles. This type of feedback is incredibly valuable and can only be achieved by working together since we all have unique contacts. No one will have reached the point that these candidates have without having some people who like them and some who do not. However, if we can get enough feedback, we will see what is consistent in either a positive or negative direction and that will be very helpful in making a final decision.

I must point out that every day we get new information that changes previous plans. This is the plan for today, but we may need to adjust our plans if we get new directives.

Thank you very much for your patience and more, your stepping up together as a true community to find a great new chancellor. It is one reason, among many, why I am so proud to be working with the campus in my present capacity.

Dan Mahony President, SIU System