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] - Good afternoon. My name is Doctor Susan Dewoody, and I'm with Carter Baldwin, executive search. And with me today is my colleague and a research team member, Melissa Murray. And Melissa and I are really excited to meet with you. This session is focused on students, but is certainly open to anyone who would like to attend today. And so I'll give you a little bit of background on Carter Baldwin to start out and then give you an idea. Of the format for today's session and then we'll get started.
So the first thing I just want to share with you is a little bit about Carter Baldwin, who we are and how we came to this partnership with the system and with University of North Georgia. And so Carter Baldwin has been in existence for about 22 years in executive search. Most of the searches that we do are for executive level positions, President, CEO's. Chief operating officers, some vice presidents as well. And we have performed more than 50 university president searches in our history. And we seem to always have at least one or two presidential searches underway at any given point in the year. And so we feel that this is a distinct privilege to work with the university system of Georgia and with the University of North Georgia.
And so we're really excited to partner with you. And really, honestly, the, the motive that Melissa and I have today is to learn more about you and learn more about the University of North Georgia and your 5 campuses and to be able to represent you well as we speak with candidates and we actively recruit over the next couple of months for your next president. So that's the, the really kind of the crux of why we're here today and the motive behind us wanting to spend some time with you. There are a few housekeeping, things that I want to share. So this format, it allows for there to be a large group of people attending at the same time. And so you know, yesterday we had a couple 100 in attendance and the format allowed us to receive maximum feedback from those individuals as well as answer questions for those individuals. And so here's the format. So Melissa and I are obviously speaking to you today. We have some questions. That we would like to ask, and we're seeking input and feedback from you specifically about the questions that we're asking. You'll have an opportunity to ask us questions as well, and what I will do is try to review live as you are commenting some of the feedback that is coming in.
You do have the ability to remain anonymous if you choose to. And so we want candid feedback, we want to understand your community. We want to understand your desire for your next. President, so please feel free to share information with us as we discuss the next President of UNG today. There is a button at the bottom of your zoom screen that says Q&A and that will be the button that you click on in order to ask us questions, to answer questions, to give feedback and input. During this process we are able to download that into a report, the specific comments which gives us really almost just a a reference guide, a manual to what you are telling us in terms of. What you're seeking for your next president.
So we're excited about that and we hope that you will actively participate today and we really want to hear from you students and attendees about what you desire in your next president. Few more things if you would like closed captions on during this time, please. There's a bottom, there's a a box at the bottom of the screen that is for captions and will allow if you click on that CC button that will allow you to have closed captions during this time today and then we will be seeking nominations. That is not the only work that we do at Carter Baldwin. In fact, Melissa leads the research on this project and she will be actively researching. Candidates that meet the criteria that we're discussing with you in these listening sessions that we're hearing from you. And so from that we will reach out and recruit what we refer to as passive candidates. Passive in, in this instance, in recruitment means that these people likely have their head down working where they are. They may be a president, a Provost, an executive, somewhere where they're having great success. And so we will reach out to them, share the UNG. Story and talk with them about the possibility of applying for the position. So that's kind of what our work looks like over the next couple of months. A lot of outbound phone calls, a lot of communication with executive level leaders across across the globe. And so that that is an exciting time for us. We are seeking nominations however, so if you know someone and you would like to nominate them, you may do so by and Melissa is going to include this. In the chat box by emailing us at UNG President, all one word at carterbaldwin.com (ungpresident@carterbaldwin.com), there is a timeline associated with this search. And so I'm trying to kind of front load some of the questions that we fielded yesterday so that we can have a most productive time in receiving feedback from you this afternoon.
So let me just get the timeline out of the way. And so that way we can all be on the same page in terms of the timeline, so. We met with campus leaders, the search committee on January the 13th, and Dahlonega, and we discussed with the search committee what some of the desires were that they had for their next president. We reviewed the timeline with them. We all put it on our calendars, and we kicked off the search on the 13th and scheduled these listening sessions. These are paramount to the work that we're doing because it allows us to hear from you in the Community. Exactly what you desire in your next president.
You have been there and you know what the current president is like. You know what it is like to be a student, a faculty, a staff member, a community member. And so you're able to give us really great input from where you sit. And so this week we have set aside multiple listening sessions where we're spending time with you and receiving input and feedback on what you desire for your next president. In the remainder of the month of January, February and March, we will be engaged in recruitment. As I mentioned, we'll be following up on nominations and actively recruiting potential candidates for the position by the end of March. We will wrap that up and we will then pass over all of the candidates who've applied for their role will be moved on to the search committee and the search committee is comprised of a number of leaders associated with UNG in addition to some students. And so we had an opportunity to meet multiple students who were on the committee as well as other leaders that have been identified around campus. And we would recommend that you take a look at that list, and I'll tell you where you can find that list in just a minute. But there is a list of who is on the search committee, if you'd like to have a conversation with someone or make a nomination in person. And so by the month of April, the search committee will have the full slate of candidates who have applied for the position. And the first round of interviews will be conducted. The search committee will then narrow from that large pool. There, they will narrow to 7 to 9 candidates to interview in person. And so they will then go through interviews in May, early May with those 7 to 9 candidates with the search committee. And then from there they will narrow that selection down to three to five candidates that they then will recommend to the Chancellor and the Board of Regents.
There is a process at at North Georgia and in the university system where the Regents and the Chancellor then work on those candidates from the three to five to then narrow down to who the president will be with input from the community. And so the hope is that then by June, they will announce who will be the next President of the University of North Georgia. And so we find that we do these kinds of searches frequently and you know it. It's great. Have all parties on board with the timeline. And so we did sit down and had open conversation on January 13th about the timeline and we feel really good about being able to accomplish this goal, the timeline and updates about the presidential search. So if any time in the semester you're thinking, I wonder what's happening with the presidential search. I don't really remember where they are in the timeline or I wonder if there's an update. I would recommend that you go to ung.edu/presidential-search and that will give you our timeline Melissa will put that in the chat box for you and the you know hanging on to that will be important. But I also know they will send out, you know, notifications and updates as things progress. But that's a great way that you can go and get information when you're interested in case you're joining. Right. We want to ask that you participate today by putting comments and questions in the Q&A section. There's a box at the bottom of your zoom screen for Q&A. And so we welcome you to give feedback and input there.
And so with that, let's go ahead and hop into the questions for today. I'm sorry, the comments for today. And so the first thing that I'm going to ask is for you to share with us what are some important key characteristics. That you're looking for in your next president. And so these can be actually things you can say, we don't want this. That's actually perfectly OK to say, you know what, we'd like to avoid this particular characteristic. You don't think that would be successful at North Georgia. That's OK. You could share something that maybe isn't a typical presidential characteristic or maybe there is a a very specific list of characteristics you believe the next UNG President needs to have. And so we ask that. You would include those in the Q&A box now and understand that that information comes to us. It is not shared with the whole group. And So what I will do is try to summarize some of that as it's coming in. I will not call out your name. That's not, that's not what we're here for. And again, you can be anonymous in sharing that as well if you choose to. So the the Q&A box is open. And so we welcome you to respond to those key characteristics that we're looking for. In your next president. And while you were queuing that up. We don't have anyone yet. So we're we're waiting for some input from you. So please, please share what some of those characteristics are.
And so I will tell you from our work thus far, Melissa and I are working closely together to maintain a list of what those desired characteristics are. So let me share some of these with you and I'm sure that some of them will resonate with you if they do, feel free to share what resonates with you because as we see the more people that say they're looking for someone flexible, that helps us. Understand how important that is, for example. So here are some of the characteristics and why I said flexible. Flexible was on the top of the list. Visionary. I'm looking for someone to facilitate faculty development and growth with vision. Regional impact, obviously having those North Georgia campuses across five, you know, various campuses wanting to be able to have a greater regional impact, someone who can lead all facets of the university including the Corps of cadets. Playing to the strengths and building on weaknesses. Looking for someone who cares about people, cares about strong, positive morale on campus. Someone who's a fundraiser, so endowment, scholarships, resources, all of those things are very important. And we understand that campuses have different cultures. And so the idea that you have 5 distinct campuses that make up the University of North Georgia and helping us to understand what those distinctions are about the campuses. And so if you're tuning in today, we would love for you to share what's distinct about the campuses that you're attending. So if. You know, if you're at at Dahlonega share about Dahlonega, if you're on a different campus, please share about that with us and and let us know what is distinct about your campus that you hope to have reflected in your next president or hope that the President would understand is is distinct about Gainesville, for example. OK. Alright, so as I'll keep going here, someone did say they should welcome. Let's see.
[Q&A] - They should welcome people in leadership roles and encourage a diverse faculty, and we agree. So we heard yesterday, I'll tell you we, we heard yesterday having the faculty reflect the diversity of the region and and reflect the diversity of the students. And so we understand that. And so wanting a president who both embraces and understands how to grow in diversity and how to continue to care for a diverse population. Um, someone said uh, who spends time on each campus. We heard that yesterday as well. So thank you for sharing that. We know that that is important. Understands that Dahlonega is not the only campus and it says Gainesville is actually a larger campus in terms of student population. So I agree. I think that is really important for us to help someone to understand and, and and let's see, we've got another comment about a president that focuses on athletics, strives to benefit the community. Rather than just running a university, help bring more prestige to the school. Be open to the idea of creating football. And improving the current graduation rate and so absolutely and helping to unify the five campuses. So thank you for that comment. I think those things are very important. So please continue to share what are those characteristics that you're looking for in your next President and I'll finish this list here. It's not an exhaustive list.
So we had over 200 folks that that shared their thoughts yesterday and so I do want to continue to share some more. So a data-driven decision maker. Someone who can resource and give thought for satellite campuses. Someone who's interested in shared governance with the faculty. Student centered action. Someone who cares for diversity, equity and inclusion and so we heard that multiple times yesterday and so we definitely hear that and and value that as well continues to advance the success that UNG has had and continues to advance the student success that UNG has had. And and so those are just some of the the kind of top of mind characteristics that pop up to me. Are there any more that you would like to share? So let's see someone said I want a student who values our students relationship with health and fitness. Potentially funding an Aquatic Center. Looks like maybe there's been a pool closure and so someone that could help bring that back and help students to have greater access to fitness and to a pool. That's good. As a student on the Blue Ridge campus, I would love to have someone who focuses equally on all campuses, not just alone again in Gainesville. Thank you for that.
We recognize there is some vulnerability in sharing these ideas. So we do encourage you to share and understand that we do take your comments very seriously as we seek to build out the profile. And so that's the work that we're doing right now is we're building the profile that will be used to advertise for your next president. We'll advertise in the Chronicle of Higher Ed. We'll advertise on higher Ed, higheredjobs.com, excuse me, and a number of other places that we've identified. That we will market digitally and we also have our own proprietary database that has thousands of executive level leaders and so we will advertise in our own database for your next President as well. Someone familiar with online campus and learning environment and that has been mentioned in other sessions, but this is the first time mentioned today. So thank you for sharing that. That's a that's a great, that's a great plan and I know that online is something that has been growing for you at UNG. And so we definitely want someone who understands that and can help foster that growth and put the right people in place to support students who are in online courses for sure. And again, another vote for a football team. So sounds like that's something that the student population is interested in.
All right. So please feel free to continue to give comment. You can give comment throughout this entire session of saying these are these are the kind of characteristics that I'm seeking that I'm looking for and we understand those ideas may pop up a little later. We don't want you to hold back. Please feel free to continue to share those and I'm going to move on to our next question. So the next question is how will you know the right presidential candidate is selected, So what you know maybe what that person looks like? How they've led, where they've led, how will you know the right person has been selected for University of North Georgia presidency? We have someone who's commented that they're currently a student worker and they're noticing that they would like to have a president who's out and about on all 5 campuses and that gives notoriety and recognition to staff and said that, you know, faculty are important, but the staff are also important. So someone who understands the important role that staff play in making the campus grounds look good, keeping buildings and dorms clean, keeping the offices running, supporting the students, right. And so we do understand the staff play an important role in. So thank you. To you, a student worker, who shared that important insight. The next one says the next president, the How you know they are the right person is they will begin their work by listening and observing and they will speak later. And so I think that's a really good insight as someone who actually support raises and provides better support for faculty and staff who've been there multiple years and are performing above standard. And so we did here yesterday. There's an interest in, you know, gaining traction and compensation and being able to. Um, you know, raise funds budgetary speaking and and bring the budget to a healthier place. We heard those things yesterday and I'm seeing them again today. So please know that those are noted. We understand the importance of those.
Someone that's able to distinguish UNG from other higher Ed institutions in the northern region of Georgia because it's different, it's a different university than Georgia State and Kennesaw, etcetera. And it said I think we should recruit more students from South and North Carolinas. So thank you for that. Someone who supports a diverse climate for faculty, staff and students are very important and I thank you for sharing that. Definitely agree with adding a football program also would like to see. More 100% online degree options. And then the next one, someone, before making students makes connection with the student. Students won't choose the university unless they're heard and their opinions are considered. And so a student friendly, student focused president, it sounds like maybe that they're engaged in recruitment is is what I'm taking from that particular statement. Maybe they can be a person of color and that will allow us to expand diversity for sure. Absolutely. I know the right person would be in place if they served the Community by recruiting others from around the country and by creating a football team so there is a continued interest from the student population in football.
All right. Any other thoughts on how we will know? What are those key details that will tell us that you found the right president? Someone interested in growing UNG's endowment? Yeah, the climate of higher Ed right now, it is really important to grow those endowments and to be able to support scholarships, to be able to support faculty development. And absolutely endowment is is key. Such great comments today. Thank you so much again not only just for investing your time in this process, but also again being vulnerable to share your ideas. And so alright, so that the the box is kind of slowed down and so I'm going to ask another question and that is what do you hope that the President, the next President will help UNG accomplish over the next five years? We need scholarships, so we need a fundraiser for those scholarships. Fantastic. So we need a fundraiser for sure, and someone with a mind for development and advancement work. So what? What are those things? I think I'm going to see football again, probably. But what are those things that, you know, the next five years? How, how will we know that? How will we know they're accomplishing what you think needs to be accomplished the next five years? What are those key things that you think the President should leave the university to accomplish? Someone willing to leverage UNG's current stem programming with other similar higher Ed institutions. I'm seeing a desire for support for athletics. Someone who understands the overall budget and funds and also can focus on campus safety. Disciplines for the future? Increase enrollment and graduation rates by encouraging online education. Growing the satellite campuses and promoting transfer student involvement. These are great. Make college fun again. It's not as fun as the stories my parents always tell us. I had to read that one. That's a good statement. And college should be fun. I agree with you. I hope the next UNG President focuses on the institutional theory toward creating a football team to help bring revenue, prestige, and more students. A goal to offer doctoral programs. So it's kind of a longer one. Let me let me try to summarize this for us. So it looks like they're saying they recognize UNG is a military school, but the the core of cadets makes up a small percentage of the overall student population. And so they're basically saying they want to continue to support the military component, but they also want more opportunities and for the next president to be mindful of new faculty, staff and students might need focus on something other than military. And so continuing to support military, but also developing and supporting non military activity within the institution as well. That makes sense.
There's a plug for some Greek housing increased research funding for students, faculty and staff. Multicultural student environment. And more and better quality alumni relations and events. Absolutely. OK. Anything else? Somebody said what I just read was great. We need to be more like Texas A&M or Virginia Tech, less like the Citadel, Virginia Military Institute, Norwich, etcetera. Thank you for that. Somebody said growing the size of the Corps of cadets. So corps of Cadets I believe is between 7 and 800 students at this point. And so growing the size of the core of cadets is 1 idea make the surrounding town feel like a college town. Repeat other public universities within the NCAA Division two, such as Valdosta and West Georgia, by creating a football team. Unify all campuses together. How about housing on the other campuses? Yeah, these are, these are great ideas.
OK. So I'm going to add a little something based on something that was just said about looking at other public universities. So tell me this. So since we're talking to students, I know that many of you likely researched several schools before you chose to come to UNG. And So what I want to ask you is that the idea of of schools that may be aspirational or schools that you look at and say. They have this, we could have that too, you know. And So what are some of those schools that you look at and think UNG could do that better or we, you know, UNG could grow if we did something like this school. And so would you share with us what we would consider aspirational schools or peer institutions and what schools come to mind that maybe you looked at maybe it was a competitor for for your choice of you, Ng or maybe you just think. Highly of those schools, but what are those schools? Would you share those with us now? Yesterday, I'll tell you, we heard Kennesaw State quite a bit in Valdosta. We heard. Georgia State. Um. Which had a number of campuses. So are there campuses that you have in mind that you think you Ng could either better compete with or look at in terms of like like this person said, look, repeat other public universities by looking at their football team and their NCAA Division Two athletics. Are there things like that that come to mind about other institutions? OK. Well, while you continue to think about that, I am going to now ask you what questions you have for us. And so this is the time in which we would welcome you to ask questions. Someone did write in and say Valdosta State West, Georgia Anderson and shorter within division two or aspirational schools. With the main component of that aspiration being to create a football team. Someone else said the surrounding towns of most schools in the South having fun businesses like bowling alleys, mini golf, etcetera. Things that definitely make it feel like a college town. I definitely understand what you're saying there. Someone else shared University of North Carolina.
OK. So now I'm going to open up the Q&A for you to ask us questions. So what questions can we answer for you? This could be about the search, this could be about the timeline, about the profile, about our work at Carter Baldwin, how can we? Answer your questions today and help with you understanding the process and and where we are with the process of the search for UNG's next president. Someone else said, when I tell people I graduated from UNG, want them to respect the degree and what they've accomplished, and so helping to the next president, helping to work on the reputation even larger than just regionally and so definitely understand that. Well, the next president be tasked with focusing on growth of the Gainesville campus. And So what I would say to that is part of the feedback that we've received from the listening sessions, part of the search committee work and those kinds of things has definitely been to understand the five campuses, to understand their unique needs, what goals they might have and where they might go from here. Growth is certainly a part of the desire for the next president. I don't know that I can speak to Gainesville specifically, but I can say growth in general is definitely part of the conversation. And I think you know, as as has been said on this particular session, as was said yesterday and even in the search committee, the desire for that President to come in and listen and learn and assess what is needed and then to work with students, faculty and staff to develop goals and then. To move toward those goals, I think will definitely be a major part of the first year for the new president.
The next question is, do you believe implementing the idea of the institutional theory of shaping organizations based on social influences and pressures to conform would be a great idea to pursue the creation of a football program for UNG well, something you don't know about. My background, I spent 20 years on university campuses, most recently a a university Provost of a school that added football, and I will say you have to consider. Many different aspects, including your culture, your identity, and your overall institutional goals before you decide whether or not to pursue football. So I don't know that I can comment on whether or not it's a good fit for you, and I don't know UNG well enough to know that. But I do think that this is definitely something that presidential campaign candidates should be aware of that the student listening session has definitely uncovered. Desire and and potentially that desire is well known on campus already. But I can tell you I can see that there's a strong desire for there to at least be continued conversation about the possibility of football. So that's helpful for Melissa and me to understand that that's something that you desire.
And the next question is a very specific question about about football and commissioned and non commissioned cadets. And again I don't know that I can answer that. We'll make sure that UNG is aware of your question and again that future candidates would be aware as well. Thank you for that. Are we looking for a President that will increase enrollment for the university? I think you know, whatever your role is on campus, whether you're a student, a faculty member, a staff member, a community member, it takes more than a president to increase enrollment. But I think for a lot of institutions right now there is research that shows that there's a bit of a Cliff coming in terms of the birth population in the age of college going students and so. Right now enrollment is is a challenge at many institutions. And so I think what UNG is going to need to do is determine is 18,000 the right size for UNG or do we need to continue to grow. And so certainly I think your next President can help lead those conversations, but it takes a whole campus to identify those goals and to pursue enrollment goals growth. And so I definitely think someone who understands enrollment and understands how to. That lead toward goals will be a major part of your next President's candidacy. Do I believe creating a football team would increase student enrollment? I don't know that I can comment on that. You know, I have my own thoughts on football. I understand what role football can play and sometimes it can increase student enrollment. It really depends on on the campus, the university and the goal and the vision that the university has for investing in a program like football. OK. Are there any other questions? UNG looking for a president that supports Greek life and would be in favor of fraternity and sorority houses. I don't know that their candidacy would depend on if they were in favor or were not in favor of those houses. I think what we're looking for is someone who is a seasoned leader who can come in and help make good decisions and look at not only data, but look at student desire, understand you know what the campus needs and be able to make strong positive decisions for. For the campus with input from from the various stakeholders and so that's definitely I think a key leadership characteristic and decision making. But I don't know that that we would position the the Greek life question specifically on the candidacy if that makes sense. There's a comment that needs someone who understands the moving parts of athletics and the potential for creating football.
Is there an emphasis on the new president being a member of an underrepresented population and possibly a member of the LGBTQ plus community? And what I would say to that is we are taking nominations as well as recruiting qualified applicants. We do encourage women and minorities, underrepresented minorities to apply for the position. We do not. Assess human sexuality in this particular role and So what we're looking for is someone who is well qualified and absolutely we are. We are advertising in diverse locations as well as seeking female and minority candidates for the position. We want the most qualified person for UNG and we understand that diversity could play a key role in that. What is the general timeline for the search proceeding? So we did review the timeline at the beginning of the call and I would recommend that you go to the website, Melissa, if you wouldn't mind popping that back in the chat. So it'll come up at the at the top for them. There is a ung.edu presidential search page and that page has the members of the search committee listed on it. It has the timeline laid out for you in terms of. You know what what we're doing and when as well as any updates that have been posted to the community on on that page. So we would recommend that you bookmark that page and that you check in on that anytime you have questions. So hopefully that will help. Is it possible for the President to be someone who's already a part of the University of North Georgia? Absolutely. It is. Absolutely. We are looking for the most qualified candidate and that person very well could be already in the UNG. Campuses. So we do understand that for sure.
OK. Are there other questions? I'm just scrolling back through to be sure I haven't missed anyone. Will a transcript of today's comments be available on the UNG website? That is not something that I do know the answer to. I believe I know that a transcript is being used for our purposes because obviously we're trying to make sure that we take every single comment into consideration. But in terms of a transcript being available, I don't know if our webinar host, Eric might be able to answer that. I'm gonna take that as not able to answer that at this moment. Someone shared the idea of creating a football exploratory committee and I definitely think if that's something that you all are going to look at then then definitely you would want want to pursue it in some way like that for sure. Eric did answer and said he cannot answer that today, so we don't know if a transcript will be posted. That would be a decision for the university relations and system leadership.
OK. Are there any other questions before we wrap up today? Again, Melissa and I are grateful to you for the time that you have spent with us today and sharing your thoughts and ideas about the next president at the University of North Georgia. And so we certainly we continue to look forward to understanding. You know what it is that you're looking for and helping UNG to achieve their goals as they recognize and appoint their next president. Gonna wait just another minute or two to see if there are any further questions. OK. Melissa, is there anything else that we've missed today that we need to be sure to share with these folks? That I can think of I'm just curiosity would love to know kind of what year our participants are in their at their time. But UNG are you freshman, sophomores, juniors, seniors if you've been around a while are you excited about your future you know the future of of UNG. I'd just be curious to know kind of where you where you are in your studies that's a great question. Are you willing are you willing to share with us what year are you? At UNG, we'd love to hear that. At a junior film Major. Final year of the Doctor of Education program. Couple of sophomores. Love it. I will say to you students, we had an opportunity to meet the students who are serving on the search committee and they are incredibly sharp students. So I think you are being represented really well from your student population on the search committee. And so I'm very excited to get to know those students more and to hear more of their perspective. But I do want to share. I think you're in good hands and I think you're being represented. Well, by your fellow students on the search committee.