Wanted: Top-10 research university seeks new president; must be at the top of his or her field, be an excellent administrator and have an internationally renowned reputation.
With the announcement Sunday that President Nan Keohane will step down June 30, 2004, the University also created a 16- to 18-member presidential search committee.
Board of Trustees Vice Chair Robert Steel will chair the search committee, and said he hopes to convene the group--which will be comprised of Trustees, faculty members, and possibly students, non-academic employees and other members of the Duke and Durham community--by May.
"Then it's off to the races to do a lot of work over the summer and into the fall," said Steel, who is also the chair of the board of directors of the Duke University Management Company. Steel also chaired the committee that selected DUMAC President Thruston Morton three years ago. The presidential search committee is expected to present one or several top candidates to the Board of Trustees at its February 2004 meetings for further consideration.
"The first step is to really invite the opinion of lots of people as to what we think the characteristics and qualities of the position are," Steel added, stopping short of speculating as to what those qualifications might be. "The Duke community is broad and rich and diverse in perspectives, and I'm really excited about the committee hearing what those people think."
In a press conference Sunday, Keohane offered her own ideas for qualifications for her successor.
"It's an interesting and complicated job, and I would hope that the Trustees are looking for someone who combines the kind of academic qualifications that lead to genuine respect by the faculty and students with a capacity for management, because it is a very complicated enterprise."
Keohane added that she hopes the new president brings a sense of empathy for all members of the Duke community, noting her joy in talking to random students, faculty members or groups of construction workers.
"Somebody who doesn't have that sense of curiosity or empathy for all parts of the institution, I think is going to have a hard time when the complex moments come," she added. "I also hope they choose somebody with a sense of humor and a lot of stamina and a high tolerance for stress."
Speculation will likely run rampant over the next 12 months about possible internal and external candidates for the top spot. As Duke will be the most prestigious university in the country with a presidential opening, that speculation will likely reach well beyond the University walls.
"Because of what Nan has helped to accomplish in her term here, it's got to be one of the ideal jobs in all of the academic world," said Harold "Spike" Yoh, chair of the Board of Trustees, at Sunday's press conference. "Because of the environment, the faculty, the North Carolina locale, there are so many things going for Duke that I can't think of any reason why somebody would not want this job."
Searches at Columbia, Harvard and Michigan universities have recently been or will soon be completed.
Keohane cautioned against looking to obvious places for her successor. "There are a lot of people out there who are potentially very strong candidates for a university presidency, and they're not all now in sitting university presidencies elsewhere," Keohane said. "Some of them are in other areas like a provost's job, some of them might be presidents of a liberal arts college the way I was.
"There are a lot of people out there who could do this job well, but there are not many who can do it really superbly," she added.
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