Athabasca University staff, students and faculty will get their say on the search for a new university president this week.
The universityís board of governors is consulting with stakeholders, including union representatives and university associations, in Athabasca, Edmonton and Calgary.
The feedback from the consultations will be used to develop a profile of the presidential candidate.
ìWe want input on the challenges ahead and the qualities our next president should bring to the position,î said Margaret Mrazek, board of governorsí interim chair and chair of the President Advisory Search Committee.
ìWeíre going to use the information that we get from consultations to finalize a presidential profile that will guide us as we talk and look for candidates.î
Sample questions include: ìIn addition to the presidential taskforce report on sustainability, what other opportunities and challenges will face Athabasca University and its leader over the next five to 10 years? In light of all of these, what should be looking for in the next president?î
Once completed, the presidential profile will be posted online and The Geldart Group ñ the search consultants hired by the board ñ will look for candidates. Mrazek said she hopes to have an announcement ready by autumn.
ìWeíre going to be flexible,î she said.
Lawton Shaw, the president of the Athabasca University Faculty Association, said he was disappointed that the bargaining units were excluded from the presidential search committee.
ìThatís quite unfortunate, because that means thereís no professional support staff or tutored representation in the actual committee thatís going to select the new president,î he said.
ìThe faculty ranks are obviously very important ñ you donít have a university without that ñ but there are these other groups that constitute greater numbers of staff than just the academics,î Shaw added.
Though the faculty association is not represented on the search committee itself, the committee is scheduled to meet with its union executives in separate stakeholder consultations, as well as those from the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees.
ìThatís a great first step to have those stakeholder consultations,î Shaw said. ìBut I think thereís still a need to have representation actually on the search committee, to make sure that those concerns are heard and the things we have in mind for the next president.î
The new hire will replace interim president Peter MacKinnon, who took up the post in 2014 when a permanent candidate couldnít be found to replace Frits Pannekoek.
As interim president, MacKinnon headed the taskforce that released a report on the universityís dire financial situation.
ìI think under Peter Mackinnon, weíve been able to stabilize our operations and identify where we need to go next,î Mrazek said.
Mrazek also said the board is in a better position than it was a year-and-a-half ago, and it knows what needs to be done at Athabasca University.
ìI think weíve been able to better analyze and identify our challenges, and thatís really important, because I think the taskforce has helped everyone to focus on what our challenges are and where we need to look at and what we need to do,î she said. ìNow what we really need is to make sure we have a permanent leadership ñ not somebody interim ñ who can address the challenges and make Athabasca University sustainable.î
Updates on the search and consultations will be posted on a not-yet-public presidential search website and through social media.
