TO: Clarkson Faculty, Staff, and Students
FROM: Clarkson Trustees Georgia Keresty ’83 and Sanjeev Kulkarni ‘84
Presidential Search Committee Co-Chairs
RE: Listening Sessions for Presidential Search
DATE: September 17, 2021
As many of you are aware, Clarkson has retained the executive search firm Isaacson, Miller (www.imsearch.com) to help with our search for a President. Search consultants with the firm, Partner Kate Barry and Managing Associate Elizabeth Dorr, will be working closely with us over the coming months.
Listening sessions will be held virtually starting the end of next week (times and Zoom links below) so the committee and consultants can benefit from your perspective on the Clarkson presidency, how you would expect to interface with the President, and what you consider to be the key challenges and opportunities the new President will face.
Open Forum times and links to register to attend:
Open forum for faculty – Tuesday, September 28, 2021 at 12 p.m. Register at: https://clarkson.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0kfuGtrzgrE9cfR-ec_KagtaZpzaUkG1PR
Open forum for undergraduate students – Tuesday, September 28 at 6 p.m. Register at: https://clarkson.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMqdO2opj0sGtRYsCjIaik54dIzjHKbzxq2
Open forum for graduate students – Friday, September 24, 2021 at 4 p.m. Register at: https://clarkson.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMrf-CgqT4tE9aKvxAFsHyRLwn4sX3oPy3k
Open forum for staff – Tuesday, September 28, 2021 at 9 a.m. Register at: https://clarkson.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcpceqgqj8vHdCtxZzJIQT4hD2YdZPsrWJZ
General open Forum – Wednesday, September 29 at 8:30 a.m. Register at: https://clarkson.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAudOquqjMoE9AjkIhBHcGN-W7USljsUJuu (open to all who may have scheduling conflicts)
We are also planning for a representative from the Search Firm to do an in person session at the Capital Region Campus in Schenectady in the near future and the firm will be in Potsdam on October 13 for additional engagement with the University community. Those times and locations will be announced.
These discussions will help our search consultants learn about the role and gain an understanding of the institution’s culture, current environment, and the organizational context in which this President will operate. In particular, they hope to hear your thoughts on the following:
- In hiring this person, what will be the fundamental differences at Clarkson one year from now, three years from now, and five years from now?
- Are there more subjective or informal measures for determining the success of the President?
- What institutional activities need to be sustained? Which ones enhanced? Which ones initiated or ended?
- Based on the objectives identified, what do you think are the qualifications and experience of an ideal candidate? What is essential and what might be helpful? What are the personal attributes most important for this role?
These questions were developed to help us think about the ways that we can tangibly assess candidates and measure the success of a new President.
The search team will also ask for your suggestions of people to contact in their outreach to build a pool of candidates for this position. They will draw upon their own networks but want to make sure they tap into ours as well. They will welcome suggestions of possible candidates, but suggestions of thoughtful sources who might lead them to strong candidates are just as important.
If you are unable to attend these meetings, please feel free to share your thoughts with the consultants and the committee via a survey or via email at presidentialsearch@clarkson.edu.
In addition to the listening sessions, Kate and Elizabeth will be meeting with other key stakeholders including senior leadership, the Board, and alumni. Once they have had an opportunity to speak with people here, Kate and Elizabeth will work with the search committee to develop a position profile that will provide a compelling description of Clarkson. The position profile will outline the University’s history and mission as well as a realistic and enticing picture of the challenges, measures of success, and ideal skills, experience, and qualifications of the new President. When finalized, this document will be made publicly available and will be shared broadly by the search firm with prospective candidates and helpful sources.
Thank you for your participation in this important effort. As a key stakeholder in this search, your input will be important to the outcome of this search and the success of the new President.