April 15, 2013

The search committee is charged to recommend to the Board of Trustees one or more unranked candidates, but preferably no more than three, as the next President. All such candidates must be highly qualified to lead Hendrix College in the coming years. The Board retains the final right to select and appoint the President.

The search must be conducted with careful attention to and significant input from Hendrix College’s many constituencies. Toward that end, the search committee will give each constituency ample opportunity to share its views on qualities to seek in candidates, and to nominate specific individuals. A web site dedicated to the search, available for public viewing, will be established and maintained.

The Committee itself is broadly representative, but individual members are not charged with representing a constituency. Each of you represents the College as a whole, and your charge is to find a great new leader for the College.

The search committee will develop a profile of the College, and of the desired attributes in candidates. This profile will guide the search and selection process. It will be shared with both prospective and actual candidates, nomination sources, and with the broader Hendrix College community. The committee will also develop an advertisement to be placed in relevant media to publicize the open position.

The committee, working with the support of an executive search consultant, will undertake an active national search to identify a diverse field of promising candidates. Through interviews, detailed reference checks, and quite possibly visits to the leading candidates’ institutions, the search committee will then winnow this field to the recommended candidates.

It is the aim of the committee to conduct a search whose process is thoroughly transparent, but with the understanding that the identities of those applying for the position must be kept completely confidential. Accordingly, throughout the process, and forever after, the search committee and its staff will commit to complete confidentiality as to the names of the candidates, the nature of the committee’s deliberations, and the details pertaining to the selection. Subject to this constraint, the chairs of the search committee will make periodic reports to the Board and members of the Hendrix College community about the progress of the search. Only the committee chair and Board chair will comment outside committee meetings on any aspect of the search.

The next President of Hendrix College is expected to be announced during the winter of 2013-2014, and to assume office in the summer of 2014.