Presidential Search Committee Seeks Comments

The head of the search committee to identify candidates for Duke's next president has begun soliciting the faculty and others for advice on the kind of leader the university needs at this stage of its history.

"Before the search committee begins its review of candidates' credentials, we must clearly define the university's needs and determine the type of leader who is best suited to help us achieve our goals," Robert K. Steel writes in a letter being mailed today to the faculty, which is similar to messages he is sending to student leaders, administrators, volunteer leaders and others, both within the Duke community and beyond.

Steel, vice-chair of Duke's Board of Trustees, chairs the committee leading the search for Duke's ninth president. Nannerl O. Keohane informed the trustees on March 1 that she intends to step down as Duke's current president in June 2004.

"Choosing a president is the Board of Trustees' most important responsibility," Steel wrote in his letter to the faculty. "One of the first steps in the search process is an institutional assessment." Steel invited faculty members to "share with the committee your thoughts about the opportunities and challenges Duke will face in the coming decade." He also requested suggestions about "specific qualifications you believe candidates should have for dealing with the challenges ahead."

Steel said the responses, which are needed by April 30, would assist the committee in preparing a "criteria and qualifications statement" to share with candidates.

The Trustees appointed Steel to lead the search committee, whose members the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees will appoint at its April meeting. The committee is expected to include trustees, faculty members and representatives of Duke Student Government, the Graduate and Professional Student Council and the Alumni Association. A member of the faculty will serve as the committee's vice chair. Steel said the committee's charge is to "present to the Board of Trustees a short list of candidates who are highly qualified to serve as the university's next president."

In his letter to the faculty, Steel said "We will conduct a comprehensive national search, and we need your network of contacts to assist our efforts. Please consider the qualifications you have outlined for the next president and recommend individuals, internal or external to Duke, who merit consideration by the committee. Your correspondence [will] be held in the strictest confidence."

Do you have suggestions for the presidential search committee? Write:

Presidential Search Committee

Box 90871

Durham, NC 27708-0871

pres-search@duke.edu