As the Presidential Search Committee this week visited the Medford/Somerville campus to get input about the search for the new university president, Peter Dolan (A '78), the committee chair and vice chair of the Board of Trustees, sat down with the Daily to discuss the process.
The search committee, made up of 13 representatives selected in February by the Board of Trustees, is currently in the information−collection phase of its search, in preparation for crafting a full position description against which potential candidates will be measured.
"Part two [of the process] is to conduct these discussions where we're gathering input from the community, which we're in the midst of," Dolan said. "Step three is to translate all that input into a position profile, which describes as best we can in a summary the collective input … which characterizes how we would define the role and what we think are the important characteristics going forward."
Dolan expects that the position paper defining the role of the university president will be ready toward the end of this month, after which the search committee will undertake its main task of identifying a handful of candidates to recommend to the trustees.
"The search committee's task is to narrow the field of possible applicants down to three or four people that we believe have the potential to lead the university and build on what's been accomplished here," Dolan said.
He emphasized that the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees would make the final decision, with a year−end target date for the completion of the entire selection process, before the end of University President Lawrence Bacow's tenure in May 2011.
Dolan acknowledged that different constituencies have different priorities and interests in considering the agenda for the university and its new president.
"The university's a complex institution … and everyone, so to speak, touches the elephant in a slightly different way, and their view of where we are today and what's needed is in large part a function of just what part of the elephant they are touching at the moment," Dolan said.
Reconciling these varied interests will be a focus of the committee's work in the coming weeks, following the information−gathering forums.
"The challenge for us as a group is to put all that information together and gather that in a clear statement which acknowledges how far Tufts has come, how much the culture of transparency and communication, for example, that's certainly been part of President Bacow's administration, is critically important to the Tufts community, and to build on all of that as we look at different candidates," Dolan said.
He challenged individuals and groups to take a big−picture view beyond their own immediate interests.
"What we've really said to each of the members of the search committee is that while they come from a part of the university, the challenge is to recognize … the value that brings, but to rise above that and to think about and evaluate candidates in the context of the total needs and priorities of the university," Dolan said.
"That certainly applies to individual interest groups who ... might want to elevate the list of environmental issues to the top of the list," Dolan said. "That has to be considered in the context of challenges and opportunities that exist today in some of the schools."
The search committee is meant to be a microcosm of the entire university community, as it is made up of 13 representatives from the trustees, faculty, alumni, administration and the student body, coming from all of the university's three main campuses.
"That is large enough to encompass a cross section of our community … while still being a manageable size for a working group," Jim Stern, chair of the Board of Trustees, said in an e−mail to the Daily.
Stern expressed his confidence in the committee members' qualifications.
"We're fortunate that many of our members touch lots of bases … They have superb academic credentials … They also have in−depth knowledge of Tufts and the ability to identify talent and to communicate to candidates what makes the presidency of this university such an extraordinary opportunity," Stern said.
Dolan said the group has met and so far has demonstrated good dynamics.
"In aggregate, when you look at the mix of experiences, I think it's actually going to be a good group that will work very collegially to help accomplish our task," Dolan said.
While the committee is committed to making the process as open as possible, especially at this information−gathering stage, Dolan explained that a degree of confidentiality would be needed to protect the candidates' existing employment.
"I think there will be, particularly at this phase of the process, a hopefully really high level of transparency in terms of exchange of information," he said. "At some point, as we begin to vet candidates, that transparency needs to go into a quiet phase."
While the committee is still formulating its position paper, Dolan identified some qualities that would be considered in a candidate, including accessibility, fundraising ability and integrity.
"Someone who has the vision to build on what's happened at Tufts … over the last ten years, combined with the intellectual capacity that allows them to interact and lead the academic community, but also to understand the complexity and the diversity of this university," Dolan said.
Dolan felt the forums on the different campuses have been helpful, adding that while some of them have centered around Bacow's legacy, it is important for participants to look to the future.
"There is a clear desire on the part of participants in all of these meetings to recognize and acknowledge the outstanding contributions of President Bacow … one of the fun challenges … has been getting people to … think about where do we go from here?" Dolan said.
