Open Listening Session Video Transcript

Note: The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid to understanding the proceedings at the meeting, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.

[Susan Dewoody] - We are just ahead of the noon hour and I just want to say hello and welcome to the open listening sessions for the University of North Georgia presidential search. And I will wait just another minute before we get underway, but I do want to say thank you for joining us and we're excited to spend the next hour with you as we kick off this next listening session. Well, my clock has noon, and so I'm going to go ahead and kick off this time. Hello, my name is Doctor Susan Dewoody, and I serve with Carter Baldwin executive search as a consultant. And with me today is Melissa Murray. Melissa serves as the research team lead for the University of North Georgia presidential search for Carter Baldwin. And so she and I are delighted to be with you for the next hour.

This is the 4th of four listening sessions. That we have spent this week with University of North Georgia constituents and we're thrilled to be here with you for the next hour to hear about your perspective and receive input and feedback into how we craft the search for the next President of the University of North Georgia. A few housekeeping items to give you a sense of how this Q&A will go because there is a large population that will be attending each of these. Sessions, we set it up in a Q&A style. And so there is a button at the bottom of your zoom screen that says Q&A. If you click on that, it will pop out a box that allows you to submit questions or responses to us both in that same Q&A box. And so we welcome you to correspond with us there. Melissa, the webinar host and I are able to see and moderate your comments and questions. And so we do ask that you submit your questions. And answers there. I also would add that you can choose to be anonymous and so we want to provide every opportunity for you to share your insight and perspective and in a in a safe environment. And so if you need to remain anonymous, you may be able to do that today in the Q&A box. Also, if you would prefer to attend today with closed captioning, there is a closed caption box C box at the bottom of your zoom screen. As well. And so if you'll click on that, it will add captions to today's broadcast. And so we welcome you to go ahead and get situated with the Q&A and with the closed captioning if you need that. And we will get started.

So again, I'm Susan Dewoody with Carter Baldwin. Carter Baldwin has been around for 22 years in executive search. And we do searches in corporate and corporate, nonprofit, public and private universities. We find executives, CEO's, vice presidents, presidents, etcetera for many corporations over our 22 years. And we were kind of trying to quantify. This week and we believe we have been engaged in more than 50 university president searches and Melissa can attest right now we have multiple president searches within our firm and that has become fairly normal for us that that we at least have one to two presidential searches going at any given time. And we are proud to partner with the University of System of Georgia and the University of North Georgia in your search for the next president.

And so as we kick off, we do want to talk a little bit about the timeline and we know that that will be important to this, to this group. And just to be clear, this is an open session, so anyone can attend this session. And we know that there are faculty, staff, students, alumni, community members and friends of the university all in attendance today. And we welcome all of you and are giving you that option to provide your input and feedback individually in the question. And answer process and so we we would ask that you participate fully today and we're grateful again for the investment of your time in doing so. And so let me talk you through the timeline and then I'll also tell you where you can find that timeline most conveniently as well as the list of committee members and any other information associated with the search that you might be seeking. And so there is a website and actually they have created a link on the home page. To make it even easier for you, so if you go to theung.edu website, at the top of the menu there is a a place that you can Click to go to the presidential search update. There also is a direct link now in the chat box. So if you click chat on the bottom of your zoom screen, it'll pop up so that you can see any comments that are being made in the chat. And you'll see there that Melissa has linked you directly to the link to that page for the presidential search. Timeline and updates.

So let's talk through the timeline. So the Carter Baldwin team and I met with the search committee on campus. Chancellor came in on January the 13th, which was a Friday, and had an opportunity to talk about what it is that that the search committee believes that you are looking for in your next President. We look through the timeline together, put things on our calendars and devise the plan for these four listening sessions. And so that was the the. The main work of that day was to really kind of kick off the search and begin the process of putting together these listening sessions so that we could then put together a profile. This week we are focused on listening sessions. This is the fourth session of four and Melissa and I both agree. We've talked offline that we have learned an incredible amount from this community. We are just grateful for your vulnerability and your willingness to come and spend time. And to share from your perspective, because that is what will help us to craft the position profile, will craft the narrative that we share when we talk with people about the University of North Georgia and it will honestly shape the entire search. So thank you so much for your investment of time and the listening sessions during the months of January, February and March. So we don't have much of January left, but what we do have left in addition to February and March, we will spend time researching. Responding to nominations and also reaching out to individuals, executives in this space that meet the criteria that we're looking for in your next president.

And so really we will spend a significant amount of time over the next two months in conversation with leaders across the globe about the opportunity at UNG and inviting them to apply. And so in that process and I will tell you we've already received a quite a few nominations, which is exciting and we actually recruit what we call passive candidates. And what that means for us is that these are candidates who are leading somewhere, doing really well, typically have their head down or focused on the mission. Where they are not necessarily looking for their next appointment and we find some of our very best candidates that way. And so those are the kinds of conversations we'll be having over the next couple of months about this opportunity. Melissa also has included in the chat box the e-mail address that you can use to submit nominations. And so UNGpresident@carterbaldwin.com is where you will want to go to submit any nominations that you have. And that is also included. That e-mail address is also available to you on the website at ung.edu under presidential search timeline and updates. And so we do want to make that information available to you. Back to the timeline, we'll be recruiting through March. At the end of March, we will gather all applicants and so we do not do sorting or removal of applicants ourselves and instead we give over every applicant to the search committee and that has been identified at UNG. If you have not had a chance to see who the search committee members are yet, that full listing is also available to you on the UNG website under the presidential timeline and search update. Age. And that'll give you a good sense of if you have a question for a committee member or you want to nominate someone in person, that that group is available to you and that is comprised of faculty, staff, students, Regents and community members are who comprise that search committee.

As of April, it'll be early April. Search committee will meet and review all of the applicants for the UNG president role, and they will schedule and conduct first round interviews. Now, part of the role of Carter Baldwin is to work alongside the search committee and we will take notes from them. They'll select a first round draft, so to speak, and we will reach out and schedule those interviews on behalf of the search committee. But the search committee does all of the interviewing. Decision making. They will then narrow from that initial set of interviews. They'll then narrow the pool down to 7 to 9 candidates. After they do that, they will interview those 7 to 9 candidates in early May, and then from the 7 to 9, the search committee will narrow it to three to five, and those three to five will be referred to the Board of Regents and the Chancellor for further interviews and consideration. And the institution looks to have a goal to name and narrow down to the one candidate, the one finalist, the future president of UNG in the month of June. And so that's kind of the timeline in a nutshell for you. Again that is posted on the UNG page under the timeline and update page. And so at any point in time that you have questions, there's a a great opportunity for you to go there and to see where we are in the timeline. They will also post any updates to the timeline or updates to information you know pertaining to where they are. As they send those out to the community, they will also post them there on that page. And so you may want to bookmark that or just remember that you can now get there easily from the home page. In order to access those updates. So with that in mind, those links and the link and the e-mail to nominate are in the chat box.

[QnA] - And so now we would ask that you begin engaging in the question and answer process. So the first question that I want to ask the Community to respond is what are the important key characteristics that you would like to see in the next UNG President. These could be things that are typical, that are common. These could be things that are atypical, that are not as common. Because of maybe unique characteristics that you see either in your community or on your campus. They also could be things that you want us to avoid in terms of characteristics for the next President. So go ahead now and engage the question and answer box and let us know what key characteristics you are hoping to see in the next UNG president.

And as we wait for those to come in, I can share some of the characteristics that we are seeing from the most recent listening sessions. And I will tell you, I'm one of the really nice ways that UNG has set this up for us. We are able to download all of your input and comments. And so Melissa and I can spend more time and we are spending more time studying and reviewing and grouping the feedback and comments that you're giving to us because as you can. Imagine in one hour they go back quickly and so we will make sure that we're able to go back and look at those. There are a few that have come in. So a couple of the characteristics that you are seeking in your next President values UNG athletics and student athletes. And I will tell you to the person who made that comment, we have heard that in other sessions as well. So we will definitely underline that and as we have been, we have started doing our research and and begun to build out the part of the. Profile that talks about the university that gives some of the history and some of the highlights. I will tell you that athletics is certainly a part of that, your D2 NCAA identity as well as your Peach Belt Conference membership. And so we we do want you to know that that is going to be a part of the profile. Additionally, some more comments are coming in navigating change and certainly in the landscape of higher Ed in 2023. We know that is a significant part of the work of any higher Ed leader and so that's fantastic. Thank you for that feedback, inclusive and approachable.

A proponent of shared governance and academic freedom and a successful fundraiser. And I will tell you to the person who shared that we have those down as well as as important items from other sessions also. So again, we'll continue to underline those items that are definitely popping up more than once. There's a comment here that says the the author believes that President Jacobs has done an excellent job in setting course for the institution. Would would like to see the Presidential Incentive awards program persist and grow. It's the main reason that person has stated the institution I will say and we have heard that they would like to see among the constituents would like to see an increase in retention of staff and faculty. And so I definitely think things like a Presidential incentive award could be something good to help continue with retention. So thank you for that comment. A focus on the core of cadets. As the Military College of Georgia, it is an essential requirement that the corps received the attention that it deserves. And I will tell you, we've been doing our research on Corps of cadets and the the six senior military colleges to better understand the identity of the Military College of Georgia. So thank you for that heavily involved with all members of the university.

And again Melissa and I have noted the importance that this is not a Dahlonega position alone that this there are five campuses and we have. Definitely heard a significant amount of feedback about the president being on all 5 campuses and really being inclusive of all 5 campuses. And so thank you for those comments. Justifying return on financial capital. How we weave the physical tapestry and educational tapestry versus new delivery systems. Support for athletics and want to see more success for the athletic teams. This person says maybe a retired senior leader or a veteran of the US armed forces. And I will tell you as part of our research strategy, that is certainly in there. So thank you for affirming that. That's really helpful for us to hear from you, a continued focus on academic freedom. That one also has been repeated among multiple sessions and is very important. Innovative, vibrant, business savvy. Able to work with the Board of Regents to elevate the school and to get appropriate levels of funding.

We know that funding that is more competitive than ever to receive funding from the state to to, you know, Garner funding from donors. And so we definitely understand the need to place emphasis on funding. Recognize the vast community of online learners interested in supporting that group as an integral group of the university and integral part of the university. Understands the pulse of UNG and how the corps of cadets is the centerpiece of the institution. Priorities. Let's see prioritization on which educational platforms should be maintained, which to grow and new to develop. Someone who knows the value of what degrees resonate worldwide and which ones are niche programs. Building a modern leadership team unifying all campuses. These are certainly especially the unification of all the campuses. I cannot underline enough for you how many times we've heard that and recognize the importance of representing all 5 campuses and then also bringing unity to the campuses. Fantastic. And this person said I recommend a retired. A retired Army Lieutenant General or general served as president for the first time in 150 years. Again, I'll just comment that that is a part of our research strategy, not that it would only be someone who is former military, but we are absolutely open to former and current military as part of the strategy. A change leader, a leader of change. We need to continue to evolve. Fantastic. Well, this is wonderful and I want to encourage you throughout the time together today that you can continue to provide characteristics. So don't feel like because I've moved on to another item that it means you can't continue to to add characteristics that you would like to see. We welcome you to continue to share characteristics that you would like to see as they come to your mind.

The other thing that I would add is that I probably need to revisit the buttons just really quickly in case we've had. Anyone join since we started and that is if you're just now joining us or joined a little later, we want you to know that you can correspond using the Q&A box at the bottom of your zoom screen that allows you to ask questions as well as give answers to the questions that we are asking. The first question was what are the important key characteristics for your next President? And so we have gotten some fantastic answers to that already and so we will continue to take. Answers to those characteristics and we'll move on to the next question. The next question is how will you know that the right presidential candidate has been selected and what will that look like if you know the right person has been selected for the position? Servant leadership I have. I have seen the terminology of servant leadership as a thread throughout as well and I mentioned that because we will absolutely be highlighting that on the profile as something that is desired for the university because it is a common thread that we have heard throughout. So thank you for sharing that. What else? What are the other tells? How do you know that you have selected the right presidential candidate? And this person says awareness of the incredibly diverse population across multiple campuses, non traditional students, commuter students, multicultural, etcetera. Thank you for that. Invigoration of leadership at cabinet. So some energy at the cabinet level will be one of the signs that you know that you have selected the right presidential candidate. Has experience from different institutions or careers, et cetera, that can bring new ideas. What else? Tell us how will you know that the right presidential candidate has been selected? So it says we'll bring change to how we currently operate. Improve things, rather than working to change things to their preferences. Understands the need to sustain digital transformation necessary to meet the needs of the next decade. The right person will be identified by ability to communicate vision, inclusive leadership and connect with all stakeholders can articulate a vision. Someone who is excited about UNG and sees this as the incredible opportunity that it is. I will agree that Melissa and I both have talked about how we believe this is an incredible opportunity for someone and we think that our stakeholders will receive it as such. And so we are both excited. In fact, our whole team that's working on UNG is really excited about sharing this opportunity with leaders that we believe will be great for your institution. This says. An articulated vision. We'll have a written vision and be willing to vocalize outside of the state. We have heard a repeated frame that that the core is a really core cadets really foundational to the institutional history and who the institution is as the Military College of Georgia, but it also is not the only thing at the institution. So I think that bears repeating as it has been shared here. The core is important, it should thrive but also that there once that that there are constituents that want attention to be paid to non core activities as well. And so I think that's a fair statement and something that we've heard throughout. As well, someone who promotes athletics, all faculty and students feel heard and advocated for by the candidate. Another person talking about the unification of all 5 campuses. President brings energy and enthusiasm for student athletes and the athletic department. Someone who's excited about UNG, and sees this as the incredible opportunity that it is, agreed. When they speak about the university and its future, they address the unique culture that UNG has with its civilian and cadet students. Maintaining that uniqueness in the culture is very important. Very good, very good. One of the things that we would encourage you to share with us, if you're willing to, is being able to share with us about the uniqueness of the campuses. So what we've asked on other calls, other sessions is if you are on one of the five campuses, a student, a faculty, staff, a community member and you can share with us what is different about the culture or what is, you know the strengths of that campus and we would love to hear you share that. Be sure you tell us which campus. Uh, that you're writing your perspective from, but that could be helpful for us as well. Someone asked about are we going to be limited by salary with selecting the very best candidate? I actually think your institution can be competitive and I believe you'll have an opportunity to attract the very best candidate. A person who wants to build the brand and make UNG recognizable. No longer a hidden gym. Gives equal weight to stem and the humanities. Again, on that kind of hidden gym comment, someone to ensure we're no longer the best kept secret and can bring us to the table with constituents we haven't been able to reach. That's a great comment. Thank you for that.

OK. So you can continue to answer on important key characteristics as they come to mind as well as how you will know the right president is selected. But we're going to go ahead and move on to the next question, which is what do you hope that we that that your President will be able to help you accomplish in the next five years. So what are those key tasks, big rocks, whatever you want to call them, that you would hope that the President would be able to help the university to accomplish over the next five years? What are what are those items? I've been asked to restate it. So what do you hope that the President will be able to lead the university to accomplish over the next five years? So what are those things that you believe need to happen institutionally, that you want a president who can be able to lead you there over the next five years? I am seeing some additional so full scholarships for graduate students. So I do know that, you know, fundraising is obviously something that's top of mind for many people as they think about the next president being able to stabilize operational budgets, being able to bring in greater endowment and greater scholarship resources and certainly we have that on our radar as well. Stabilizing enrollment. Increased masters and doctoral programs. This individual said Dahlonega is a residential and military campus, which is quite different than the other campuses. I know a lot of people feel that Dahlonega is favored in some way. This is where the majority of the administrators are housed. So it is different in that way. And so thank you for that comment about Dahlonega. And we do realize that's where the core of cadets reside and your residential programming is also there as well. More affordable housing for students and additional parking. More graduate programs. As a student athlete, we would like to see the President fully fund athletics. In the next five years, build STEM building and fundraise to strengthen all departments, school and activities. I hope the President will be able to create a culture that will draw talented students and instructors from all over the country and world. A candidate that understands that you and G is a national brand versus a state of Georgia and regional university. Bring home an athletic national championship. A rejuvenation of the Corps of Cadets while simultaneously developing outlying campuses into a more interconnected way. Someone who understands the US news and world ranking process and can improve our regional S ranking, thus improving the stature of the school and brand recognition. Increased scholarships for all. To give UNG a unified vision and priorities with a 5 year plan to implement. Fantastic. Thank you so much. Well, wait just another minute to see if there are any other of the five year goals that will be shared. Evolve the current educational platforms to meet opportunities that come about through technology delivering efficient cost of education. Facility improvement. Evaluating whether athletics should be Division One. Increase enrollment. A 5 Year goal to Elevate UNG from the State University group to a comprehensive university group. Less emphasis on rankings and continued emphasis on quality education. Responsible stewardship of natural resources. More flexible with schedules for all students. Increase alumni involvement and giving back. Grow the core of cadets to better align and compete with Citadel, VMI, Norwich, Virginia Tech and Texas A&M. So the other senior military colleges. Help more students graduate. We do have retention and graduation as important aspects of the role, so thank you for that. Increased number of upper level courses offered and that because the times available to take those classes are limited. Evolve the core of cadets to a recognized national brand. As a characteristic for the President, they foster civil discourse and build consensus. Focus on retention of students, so they don't transfer after freshman or sophomore year. I mean that's something we did here this morning as well. So thank you for that. We will underline that. Establishes a vision and strategic plan out to 2040. I'm not sure what tap students are. Five years tap students would have the same privilege as other students. Could you comment to let us know what tap students are? Another comment says build it and they will come and prove facilities around 2 core campuses, Dahlonega and Gainesville. More graduate opportunities, internship opportunities and research opportunities. Thank you. Tap Tuition assistance program for USGS employees. So let me go back to that one. For the five years, what the President could accomplish in the five years tuition assistance program, students would have the same privileges as other students. Thank you for helping us with that, with that acronym. Not a focus on price, but value of the education and offerings. Good things cost money. OK.

So the next question that I'll ask and again, you can continue to talk about important key characteristics, how you'll know the right candidate is selected, what you hope the President will lead the university to accomplish in the next five years. And if you're just joining us, you can click on the Q&A box at the bottom of your zoom screen. That's how you can provide feedback or ask questions. And so we welcome you to do that. There are two important pieces of information in your chat box. One is the link to the presidential search update page on the ung.edu website, and the other is the e-mail address. You can submit feedback or. Nominations too, and that is UNGpresident@carterbaldwin.com. And so as we continue today, tell us so. So Melissa and I are both curious, tell us about institutions that you view as aspirational. So let's say I'll, I'll explain that a little bit more. If you are faculty, staff, student or alum, what are the other institutions that maybe you consider when you think about improving? What it is that you're doing or students, alumni, you think about who are the competitors that maybe went out on occasion and when consent, when students are considering you Ng and someone else, what are those aspirational schools that maybe they're somewhat similar to UNG but they seem to be winning or they seem to be, you know, creating more programming or doing something different that you look to and say, hey, I wish we could do that and So what are who are those? Institutions, if you will share those with us that helps us better understand, you know, just sort of the the scope of, of, you know, class that your university is a part of and the first one that that popped up just now is Georgia College. Truman State in Missouri in terms of the ability to get state funding and rebrand. For athletics Grand Valley State, they're winning a lot of championships, the US Military Academy and the Citadel. Kennesaw state. We've heard Kennesaw State quite a bit as well as Texas A&M and quite a bit. And I think there are similarities in the system concepts, right? And so that makes perfect sense for Texas A&M to be on that list. Georgia State. Another Texas A&MA large University that's considerable research and is A and a designated senior military college with a cadet corps of 2000 plus. That's helpful. Thank you for that. Any others that need to be on that list that you haven't heard yet? In terms of class, Georgia State and Mercer are comparable. Georgia Southern Consolidated School with two campuses that have their own identities. This is great information. Thank you. OK.

Well, as as I've said before, you can continue to answer key characteristics that you hope to see in your President. How you will know the the right president is selected? What you hope the President can lead the university to accomplish in the next five years, as well as those either comparable or aspirational colleges and universities. Virginia Tech is another that was just added another large university that is a designated senior military college. And so as we move on now, you like I said, continue to comment on anything that we've talked about previously to now, but we also want to add the opportunity for you to ask questions. And so we'll do our best to field questions or point you to who can answer your questions. And so let us know now what are your questions that could be about who we are, that could be about the timeline, it could be about the process of building the profile what whatever it is that you would like to. You know, at this point what questions can we answer for you? And just now UNC Charlotte and UNC A, which is probably Asheville was also included. Great question. Where will the profile be published? So once we work with your institution to finalize the profile, after these listening sessions and we've taken all your feedback and input into consideration, we will publish the profile. And we have a few different places that we've already made arrangements. So for example, we are working with the Chronicle of Higher education and we will have an ad that we place there and I believe that it will be in early February. I believe is the date that that's going to go live in the in the Chronicle and in addition to chroniclehigheredjobs.com, there are a number of job sites that we work with. Some of those are military focused for veterans as well as diversity focused for women and minorities to apply as well. And so we have a number of those slated for publication for us to put put the advertisement out on those we have our own database proprietary for our clients and our candidates at Carter Baldwin that has thousands of people in it and we actually send the profile out among that group as well. And those are executive leaders across the globe that may be looking at the position for themselves or could be a reference or a source to lead us to a strong candidate for the position as well. And so we have a great community within Carter Baldwin. Of people that we've worked with and that are in our database and so you know, we will publish this among that database as well. We are going to work with the UNG and USGS administrators to see if we could also post it on the presidential search page. I think that typically makes sense for it to be there as well. And so that's those are the most immediate places that the profile will be published. And then obviously as our research begins to surface, candidates for the position, my role is to reach out to those candidates and to talk with them to see if they're interested in applying for the role. We distribute that profile to every one of them as well and work through those networks and channels to distribute the profile also.

Um. What USG restrictions are in play and I think what you maybe mean is maybe their policies around the presidential search. And so, you know, revisiting that timeline is critical to talk about the USG Board of Regents and their particular role. So the search committee will begin reviewing the candidates in April and they will, you know, interview. And then they'll see, they'll interview and then they will identify 7 to 9 candidates from that pool to then interview to move a search committee again. Will, you know, create a a short list of three to five finalists and then they will send the three to five what they consider their top candidates to the Board of Regents and Chancellor for their review. And I believe there is. Institutional and. Board policy that says that they will then at that point in time determine who should be, you know, who should be the final candidates and then they will work to name that final candidate in June. So I hope that that answers that question. And I think the restriction so to speak would be the policy that that we're working with, which is very typical of institutions like University of North Georgia. Will a transcript of the sessions be made available to participants? And if it is going to be made available, it will be made available at the presidential search and update website and we are not sure, we're not clear if the system is going to make it available, but if they do, that is where they would make it available.

What steps do you take to ensure diversity? So we have, like I said, a broad reach in terms of how we reach out and and recruit candidates. And I think it's really important for you to understand that we're looking for the very best candidates that we can and that that does include you know, I think by diverse candidates we can agree that females and minorities are in that group and so we absolutely have. Eye to diversity and ensuring that all. Possible applicants can be a part of this pool. And so we do have a grouping of diversity publications that we work with that try to ensure that women and minorities are able to see this posting. And then of course in our database and in Melissa's research and the work that we're doing at Carter Baldwin and we are looking to have a well-rounded pool of people that we talked to as well as applicants in the pool. So thank you for asking. That important question. Is the profile the same thing as the job description? That's a great question. So let me tell you a little bit more about the profile. So the profile will likely end up being a dozen pages or so. What it does is it outlines your history as an institution. So talks about University of North Georgia, usually we'll talk about the campuses and then the distinctives like core of cadets and athletics and academics. You know anything else that we think is distinctive about your institution that we're hearing from you? It'll, it'll include those things and the job description is in there as well. And then it wraps up with information about how to apply or how to nominate and what that looks like. And so it really ends up being sort of a, I mean it's a, it's a complex brochure, almost a magazine. I mean it's, it's several pages for presidential searches, full color, full color images that represent the university. And we work with Kate Main and her staff to get all of those. Images, so that we're visually representing UNG the very best that we can and so that's that's kind of what the profile ends up looking like. And then we put it in a link format so that we're not sharing large files and and we're able to distribute that very easily in that way so. I see that we have an SGA senator on the call today who says thanks to us for listening. We want to say thank you to you for investing time and spending the time with us today. Will we solicit individuals that are not currently in an academic environment or military leadership position like corporate or nonprofit? It is possible that we would be soliciting someone. I will say though, the university environment is its own thing and so we do not assume that. Just because someone can run a business that they can run a university or just because someone has been an academic that they can run a university or just because someone has been military that they could run a university. And so there are a lot of things that go into that. And part of that is listening to you and the attributes that you're looking for. And then we create a profile that helps us then to go out with criteria to look for potential candidates. So there it is possible that we would have someone apply. Who's not currently academic or military in leadership, but it's likely that they would have something to do with those aspects, academic or military, in order to be able to understand and lead University of North Georgia or at least that's what we're hearing from you in the four sessions that we've had now, so. Who is the final decision authority? My understanding is you know, the committee is making recommendation of three to five unranked candidates and the final decision authority is your Board of Regents and Chancellor is my understanding, probably more so on the Board of Regents and that that's my understanding of that. Will there be transparency in learning who the three to five finalists are, or will we only learn who the hand-picked final candidate is? That's a great question, and that rests within the university's control. Whether or not they share that, I will tell you that when a search can be a a more closed search, meaning that you're not sharing the identity of candidates throughout the search, you can often get a stronger pull. That way you can imagine if someone is successful, let's say they're currently a president. Them somewhere and they're they're very successful in the work that they're doing. It is very difficult for them to have some something shared publicly that they are a candidate, especially early in the process that they're a candidate in another search. And so at this point, I believe that the search will be closed. I don't know if once it reaches a finalist stage and that's going to be up to the Board of Regents and the system administration. So what I would recommend is staying close to that search update page as that's going to help you understand where they are in the process and and what that's going to look like. Will we publish a summary of listening session results highlighting the most frequent responses to the questions asked? You know, we've had, we've been having that discussion actually this week. I don't have a clear answer for you. I know that we have the statements from the first two and then we'll have two more from today that we're putting together. I don't know if it will be published, but that's certainly something that the system can consider and. Uh, maybe a good idea. I think what I will say is you're likely once you see the profile, you're likely to see what those or you will see what those common refrains were because we are making sure that that information is conveyed in the profile and in the job description for the next president. So thank you for asking that question.

Web host, if I may interrupt Susan, please. Our web host has said that any and all information, including candidate info that's permitted to be public will be posted on the website and to keep an eye on the website for. Those details of the of the listening sessions if if they are to be published, yes, that's that's where they would go. Thank you. I had the the web host was behind my Q&A box. That's my bad. I wasn't seeing that he was saying that. Thank you for saying that Melissa. OK. Let me see if we have any other. No other comments at this point. Anything else that you would like to ask us while while we have a captive audience today? Again, remember, as you're thinking about your next president and someone comes to mind, we are already taking nominations even though we don't have the profile to publish yet, and we're still taking nominations and building our research database. So please reach out to UNGpresident@carterbaldwin.com. We would love to hear from you. And we have been asking other sessions, you know, can someone from UNG or within the USG system be nominated? And the answer is yes, they can and so. Uh, you know, the the next president could be someone who's already among you, but it also could be someone who is somewhere else in the globe. And so we want to be open to receiving any nominations that you have.

Someone asked. Do we have any nominations yet? Yes, we do. I hesitate to quantify, but I think we're probably getting close to 20 at this point that we've already had this week. So and we're thrilled to hear from people and to hear nominations. I think this will be a popular search because of who you are UNG and the work that you've already done and the work that your current president has done to lead you, all very positive. And so I I feel very positive that this search will be well received and that you're going to have a great pool of candidates. Melissa, did you have anything else you wanted to say? I just want to add to the nomination comments. Please feel free to provide details on why you want to nominate somebody. We collect and keep all that information. So and if you have contact information for this person, especially if there's someone that's not publicly accessible that we love that too, that certainly helps. But absolutely welcome nominations and and we're getting a lot of them, so that's fantastic. Very helpful. Yeah, and if they have a common name, if they have a common name, if their name is. Susie Smith, then. If you can tell us what they currently do, or like Melissa said, even some piece of contact information, whether it's an e-mail address, a, a phone number, a LinkedIn profile, any of that, we're we're grateful and we do have means of finding folks, but we also have some people that are not on the grid as much as others. And so as much information as you can provide with your nomination will be greatly appreciated.

So, OK, well we are wrapping up our time. Let's see. The question will President Jacobs be involved in the search or vetting process? I don't know the answer to that. I am have the same information that you do in terms of the search committee. And at this point in time, President Jacobs is not named as a member of that search committee. And so for her to have input would be for her to fall into some other area of that. So it's not uncommon for the current president to not be involved in a presidential search, at least with our other clients. But that's not to say that that would be decided for UNG. That's completely up to the system and to the University of North Georgia. And what requirements are there for the nominees? And so, you know, certainly we are looking for someone who has executive level leadership experience. A bachelor's degree is the very minimum and that is stated not because we don't desire someone with a terminal degree, but because we recognize some people have done great leadership work and maybe they have a bachelors or masters degree. So there is openness there, but the terminal degree. Obviously is preferred and and so we would ask that you, you know, look at someone that has a minimum of bachelor's degree. If and I think the way we state it typically is if they have, if they're limited to the bachelor's degree then they're background needs to garner the kind of respect that could hold the position of of a university president, you know in terms of their executive experience. In addition to that obviously respect for military. And experience with military or desired. And and Melissa, I don't have the fullest up in front of me. I'm kind of moving my screen around right now. Do you have that in front of you? Any additional? That comes to mind. I apologize. We don't, but I think. You know. Academic military backgrounds. Leadership is that's you know, the, the, the real, the key point that Susan mentioned. And I do think that some of that criteria may evolve based on these listening sessions as well. So I think once the job description or the the profile has been published, that would be a good thing to reference in in nominating somebody. That's right. That's right. That's the reason why we don't have a a decided list in front of us is that you are the 4th of four listening sessions. That's helping to decide that criteria these these sessions are not just a nod to the community, and they are genuinely an opportunity to pull in feedback and input to develop these documents and to develop the criteria. OK.

We are getting close to the top of the hour. That is the last question we have at the moment. Is there anything else in terms of questions for us or other comments? And if you think of something lighter, we do want you to feel free. Again, if you think of a criteria that you didn't hear and you didn't have a chance to to share with us or important characteristic, you can certainly send that to us at UNGpresident@carterbaldwin.com. And again just another plug if you have a nomination, we would welcome that. As well. So I think now there are no other comments coming. So I think I'll defer to our host. And say you know we're we're open for additional comments and questions and again we're just really grateful for you attending today and spending time with us. And so I thank you for the important work that you're doing as a community member of you Ng and we're going to do our very best. So keep us in your thoughts as we progress forward and go to find the next successful President of the University of North Georgia. So thanks again for being with us today and this concludes our time.

Presidential Search Listening Sessions