Dear Members of the Carleton Community,
This is the first of several messages you will receive from us over the next few months, all intended to keep you informed about the progress of the search for Carleton’s next president.
In August, trustees endorsed the creation of a search committee to begin the important work of finding our next president, the 12th in Carleton’s history. We now have our 17-member committee in place: trustees Cathy Paglia ’74, Wally Weitz ’70, Carol Barnett ’86, John Harris ’85, and Jeninne McGee ’85; alumni Amy Bevilacqua ’89, Leslie Kautz ’80, and Austin Lau ’05; faculty members George Shuffelton (English, Faculty President), Marty Baylor (Physics and Astronomy), Adriana Estill (English and American Studies), and Dev Gupta (Political Science); students Andrew Farias ’21 (CSA President), Lucas Demetriades ’22, and Molly Zuckerman ’22; and staff members Alex Miller (Sustainability) and Jane Rizzo (Budgeting and Financial Analysis). Joe Hargis (External Relations and College Communications) will act as the non-voting secretary to the committee.
The Presidential Search Committee met virtually for the first time this week to begin the work ahead. We spent time outlining the search process and agreed on the importance of maintaining strict confidentiality throughout the search. We hope to conclude the search by the end of March 2021, with an effective starting date for the new president on or about August 1, 2021.
Our committee will be assisted by Shelly Weiss Storbeck and Susan VanGilder of the firm of Storbeck Search & Associates, a division of the Diversified Search Group and a leading search firm specializing in higher education. Storbeck has assisted Carleton with past searches and knows the College well. Other members of the Storbeck team who will be working on our search include Managing Associate Tammarah Townes and Senior Associate Kenna Boyd.
Critical to the search process is your input in finding the ideal next president for Carleton. With the help of our consultants and search committee members, we will begin the process of gathering feedback from all our constituencies over the next few weeks using a combination of virtual forums and online survey tools. This information will help inform an important written profile that will outline Carleton’s key institutional needs and priorities, and a set of desired characteristics and talents for our next president. We strongly urge you to share your thoughts and ideas when the opportunity arises.
Updates and additional information throughout the search will be posted to our Presidential Search website.
A formal call for nominations will go out soon after all feedback has been collected and the position statement is approved by the committee. In the meantime, if you have any early thoughts about potential promising candidates for Carleton’s presidency, please send your suggestions to our search firm at CarletonPresident@storbecksearch.com.
On behalf of all the search committee members, we want to thank you in advance for your engagement in and support of the search for Carleton’s next president.
Best regards,
Cathy Paglia ’74 and Wally Weitz ’70
Presidential Search Committee Co-chairs