Committee selects dean semi-finalists

Semi-finalist candidates to take over John Hayes’s position as the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences will go through their first round of interviews on Nov. 11.

While most of the work has been done behind the scenes, the Chair of the Search Committee and Dean of Health Professions Ann Barr said that the committee, which is comprised of administrators, faculty and staff members, has been meeting for months in preparation.

So far, the committee has worked with a consultant who assisted them in creating a detailed job description that was then advertised in both web- and print-based publications. From there, the consultant distributed the 104 applications and prepared them for the committee and from those applications, a selection of semi-finalists have been selected.

Now, the committee is set to interview those selected in what are called “airport interviews” this week. The one and a half hour interviews, which get their name because they are normally conducted quickly in airport terminals, will include the search committee and Vice Provost John Miller.

After the airport interviews are concluded, the finalists will then be brought to campus and that is when the greater university community will meet the candidates to take over Hayes’s position. Barr said that there would be likely three or four candidates who will be made “finalists” and who will be making the campus visit.

These two-day campus visits are scheduled to take place later in the month, with the tentative dates of Nov. 21 & 22, Nov. 28 & 29 and Nov. 30 & Dec. 1 with the option to include Nov. 17 & 18 if necessary.

During this time, Barr said the candidates will meet with different groups across campus as well as give presentations.

Once the campus visits have commenced, the search committee will discuss their impressions and then make non-ranked recommendations to Miller during a Dec. 5 meeting. It will then be up to Pacific’s president and provost to make the final decision.

However, Barr warned that negotiations may take awhile, since the majority of the candidates are professionals with obligations they must conclude before moving to a new position.

Barr said that they would like to secure the new dean as soon as possible so there is no gap in administration when Hayes officially leaves his position in July.