Presidential Search
Issue date: 4/29/09 Section: News
By Tim Holmes
Contributing Editor
With a growing student body, large faculty and staff from three different colleges and dozens of departments and an athletics program recently accepted into Division I, Longwood's next president will have a variety of issues to deal with. In order to get input from departments, groups and individuals, as well as keep the campus up-to-date on the presidential search, Longwood's Web site now contains a link to a presidential search page with information about search committee members, updates on the hiring process, and the opportunity to leave comments or suggestions for the search committee.
Brenda Atkins, executive assistant to the president for governmental affairs and special projects, is the person who receives comments submitted on the Web site. "We're trying to meet with people about the process, trying to ensure that everyone knows we are looking for input from all areas of the campus," she said. In addition to the Web site, students, faculty, staff and members of the Farmville community will all have opportunities to meet with committee members to contribute their input.
The presidential search committee is in the process of hiring a search committee, and once that is done, Atkins said, "There will be more meetings, focus group type things, meetings with faculty, staff and students, because we really are trying to solicit input from everyone and to make it as open as we can."
At the April 14 Student Government Association (SGA) meeting, Board of Visitors (BOV) Rector Marge Connelly heard from several SGA members about what they would like to see in the new president. SGA President Cameron Patterson said, "One thing is having a president that values the importance of student government and students playing a role in the decision-making process. Dr. Cormier valued that during her time here…and also I think it's great to have a president who has a strong background in academia, but maybe having a president who has some business background would be valuable to the university, particularly going through these economic times experience like that is very valuable."
Contributing Editor
With a growing student body, large faculty and staff from three different colleges and dozens of departments and an athletics program recently accepted into Division I, Longwood's next president will have a variety of issues to deal with. In order to get input from departments, groups and individuals, as well as keep the campus up-to-date on the presidential search, Longwood's Web site now contains a link to a presidential search page with information about search committee members, updates on the hiring process, and the opportunity to leave comments or suggestions for the search committee.
Brenda Atkins, executive assistant to the president for governmental affairs and special projects, is the person who receives comments submitted on the Web site. "We're trying to meet with people about the process, trying to ensure that everyone knows we are looking for input from all areas of the campus," she said. In addition to the Web site, students, faculty, staff and members of the Farmville community will all have opportunities to meet with committee members to contribute their input.
The presidential search committee is in the process of hiring a search committee, and once that is done, Atkins said, "There will be more meetings, focus group type things, meetings with faculty, staff and students, because we really are trying to solicit input from everyone and to make it as open as we can."
At the April 14 Student Government Association (SGA) meeting, Board of Visitors (BOV) Rector Marge Connelly heard from several SGA members about what they would like to see in the new president. SGA President Cameron Patterson said, "One thing is having a president that values the importance of student government and students playing a role in the decision-making process. Dr. Cormier valued that during her time here…and also I think it's great to have a president who has a strong background in academia, but maybe having a president who has some business background would be valuable to the university, particularly going through these economic times experience like that is very valuable."
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