The search committee for the University of Missouri next System President held an open listening session Wednesday morning, where they introduced a timeline for the selection process. Before the committee can start searching for and interviewing candidates for the position, they must address what qualifications they are looking for. Community members had the opportunity to share their input on what the University should be looking for in the next president.
Among the topics discussed by the community at the listening session were what type of educational background they should have, what prior life experiences they should have and what traits and characteristics they should have.
MU Interim Chancellor Hank Foley said there are three qualifications that he would like to see in the University’s new president.
“Someone with impeccable integrity [with] ethics in the background of all of that, secondly I would like someone of high intellect, and thirdly I’d like someone who’s very intense,” Foley said. “Someone who really enjoys this and will throw themselves into it fully as if there’s nothing else important in life.”
Search Committee Co-chair Cheryl Walker says one of the important qualifications of the next president will be someone who understands the university’s role both to the community and the student body.
“It’s not just the students, which are of utmost importance, it’s not just about academia which is of utmost importance, but it’s also about the communities around us,” Walker said.
The search committee will recommend a set of qualifications to the board at their April meeting and will start actively recruiting candidates for the position of UM System President in May.
