MANSFIELD - The search for a new president at the university here has been narrowed to three people, council of trustees Chairman Dr. Ralph Meyer announced Monday.
Meyer, who is the president of the search committee said the individuals are:
Air Force Brig. Gen. Francis Hendricks, who now is assigned to the Pentagon;
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Dr. Donna Price Henry, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, Fla.; and
Dr. Bruce Murphy, vice president for academic affairs at U.S. Air Force's Air University, Montgomery, Ala.,
Their names and resumes have been sent to the state board of governors for review and appointment.
Meyer said the search started in January when the committee enlisted the help of Greenwood and Associates.
"We did national advertising for the position and received in excess of 50 applications," Meyer said.
After reviewing them all, he added, the committee identified 12 to consider further.
"Those 12 were invited to interview in Philadelphia for an hour in a screening interview and, based on that and some additional information review, we picked seven to invite to the campus," he said.
Two of the seven withdrew prior to that, so five visited the campus, meeting various people and a community group.
"All of them provided their input to the committee and we also did background reference checks, a fairly exhaustive process," Meyer said. "Based on all this information, the search committee picked three."
The entire process has taken the better part of a year, but Meyer said he is certain the university will have a new president in place by the beginning of the spring semester in January at the latest.
In other business, the council heard from Dr. Peter Keller, vice president of academic affairs, that enrollment this year is off by about 4.5 percent.
Fall enrollment totaled 3,131 students. The total number of new students was 999, he added.
