Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 6, 1994 TAG: 9410110096
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
"The strongest candidates have controversy in their backgrounds. I'd be surprised if they didn't," said John Kuhnle, the seasoned consultant hired to help the university choose a new president.
But the candidates need to come through the brouhaha with reputations for honor and honesty intact - in the opinion of all sides, he said.
What was billed as an open forum to talk about desireable traits for a new president turned into something of a presidential search primer for the 20 or so who attended Wednesday's meeting. Kuhnle, whose firm, Korn/Ferry International landed Hollins College's popular President Maggie O'Brien, brought perspective to a discussion that Radford, with four presidents in a nearly 150-year history, has rarely held.
Among the eye-opening statistics:
The national average tenure for a public university president stops at just under four years.
"You want to shoot for a decade and keep your fingers crossed," Kuhnle said.
Two-thirds of all presidential searches are an effort to replace someone "who struck out," Kuhnle said.
"There are not enough leaders to go around. It's a cherished commodity. All too frequently, [presidents] come in wanting to be liked," Kuhnle said.
But they can't be thin-skinned. "It is a job built for masochists. It takes a talented person to deal with it long term," he said.
University presidents face revolving doors largely because the boards that hire them are not the boards that let them go. Players change, and a president's backing may falter, he said.
"Once in place, it's like a marriage. You look at the divorce rate in this country, and a president's [relationship] is an improvement over that," Kuhnle said.
Korn/Ferry is being paid $40,000 out of the university board's budget to assist in the search, and guarantees the new president will stay two years. Most work of the committee, comprised of faculty, staff, students and alumni, is confidential under state law.
Charles Owens, vice president for academic affairs, has been acting president since Donald Dedmon abruptly announced his retirement in June. Owens announced in a Monday memo that he would be a candidate for the permanent job.
And that posed a question in the mind of at least one professor, who said concern is "out there" about a possible conflict of interest on the board.
"Since the committee has been named, Dr. Owens has expressed interest," said Steve Chalgren, a biology professor. "Two committee members who report to Owens may have a conflict of interest. ... They work at the pleasure of they president. That's a concern out there."
"That's a concern for us, too," said Charlie King, the university's vice president for business.
He and Meredith Strohm, provost for the New College of Global Studies, are the staff members on the committee.
Vice rector Karen Waldron, who is chairing the committee, said the group would discuss the matter in closed session later Wednesday.
"There have been a lot of people who are interim presidents who declare themselves candidates. That may sound like more of a conflict than it is," Kuhnle said after the meeting.
The search committee hopes to name a new president by graduation in May.
by CNB