MCLA Sets 'Aggressive' Schedule for 2nd Presidential Search
 Renovations at Bowman Hall are wrapping up with the expectation the college will begin occupation in time for the start of the fall semester. |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts is hoping to a have a new president in place by winter.
The trustees on Thursday morning approved a new search committee with the goal of having candidates on campus by late fall.
"It's an aggressive plan, it's an aggressive schedule," Trustee Chairman Tyler H. Fairbank said, adding that he had confidence in the abilities of the committee — many of whom had also served on last year's initial search. "I'm enthusiastic about the search committee."
Cynthia Brown, vice president of academic affairs, has been serving as interim president since the departure of President Mary Grant last year to become chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Asheville. The college's choice to replace her, Greg Summers of the University of Wisconsin, declined the post for personal reasons after a monthslong search.
Trustees Susan Gold and Mohan Boodram will once again lead the search committee. The trustees also voted unanimously to authorize them to select a search consultant.
Four firms had submitted applications for the college's recent request for proposals; Archer~Martin Associates, consultants for the last search, did not apply.
Boodram, speaking to the meeting remotely, said two of the four consulting companies were "particularly" interesting because of their proposals.
The consultants would use "standardized, objective assessments that would go a little deeper than we could do," he said.
The plan is to bring a search consultant on board, and "hit the ground running in September" and have candidates on the campus by November.
The search committee will be made up of trustees, faculty and staff representatives, an alum and two students.
The college is also searching for a replacement for Public Safety Director Joseph Charon, who is retiring next month. Brown told the trustees that an interim will be selected for the coming semester until a permanent replacement can be found. The job was recently reposted.
The qualifications include a bachelor's degree in criminal justice, or related field, and seven to 10 years of "progressively responsible law enforcement experience" and at least five years in a supervisory capacity.
The trustees also met with new Vice President of Student Affairs Catherine Holbrook, who replaces Charlotte Degan, who retired last fall. Holbrook was associate vice president of student affairs at Bridgewater State University since 2004, after holding a number of administrative leadership positions at the college.
She graduated with a degree in business administration from Villanova, and earned her master of education in counseling from Bridgewater and her doctorate from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. She also holds a certificate in crisis leadership from Harvard. She was honored with the National Association of Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education's Institutional Leadership Award last year.
Holbrook spoke of some the programs she has been involved with to encourage student retention and raise graduation rates.
Fairbank said those efforts will fit into the way the college supports its student body.
"I love this institution and marvel at how the institution wraps its arms around its students," he said, adding "It's in the drinking water here and we do it very, very well."
Brown also brought the trustees up to date on construction at Bowman Hall, which is undergoing a $15 million reconstruction to hold administrative offices, mathematics and computer science, and visual arts.
"We plan to make inspections and take possession next month," she said. "It's looking really nice.
"It's amazing what a good cleaning and a coat of paint will do for a mid-century Brutalist structure."
Tags: MCLA, reconstruction, search committee,
