The Board of Regents at Southeast Missouri State University has formed the Presidential Search and Screening Advisory Committee. The committee will be leading the search for a new university president after the current president, Dr. Kenneth W. Dobbins, announced his plans to retire on Sept. 8.

"After Dr. Dobbins announced his retirement, we sent out a letter to various organizations on campus and in the community to find representatives," Doyle Privett, president of the Board of Regents and chairman of the committee, said.

The committee was formed with the help of Parker Executive Search, a global executive search firm. The firm has previously helped the university fill the positions of provost and athletic director. At this point, Parker advised the board on how to form the committee so that it was representative of the university and the committee as a whole.

After sending out the letter, various organizations sent the board their nominees. From there, the board chose 16 people to serve on the committee. The list of representatives was finalized on Sept. 21. The representatives include three Regents, one professor from each of the university's schools, two students, two representatives of the university staff, one from the Foundation Board and three representatives from the community.

"We made sure not to pick all of the committee members from one area of campus," Privett said. "We also included two students, so we feel the committee is representative of the university and the community."

The committee has only recently been formed, so it has yet to really begin the search.

"We have not met yet, so I do not know much about what we will do," Gloria Green, associate professor of nursing and representative of the College of Health and Human Services, said.

The committee will have their first meeting on Thursday. This meeting will be a planning meeting, at which the committee will discuss a timeline and plan for finding the new president. Parker will also recommend how the committee should proceed going forward. At this stage, the Board of Regents hopes to find a new president by February 2015.

"I feel like we have given ourselves plenty of time to decide," Privett said. "Even if we have to extend the search past February, we will have time. The new president will not take office until July 1, as Dr. Dobbins will be here until June 30."

After the initial meeting, the committee will meet a total of seven or eight times before making a decision. Three of these meetings will be conference calls, while the rest will be face-to-face meetings. About two or three meetings will be before the committee starts interviews, and two of them will be during the interviews. Representatives from Parker will be present at all meetings as well.

Once the search begins, Parker will be in charge of receiving the nominations, researching potential candidates and doing background checks. The committee itself will conduct the interviews and narrow down the candidate pool. It plans to select two to three finalists, then the Board of Regents will make the final decision.

"We will decide what we are looking for in the next president at the first meeting," Privett said. "But the Board already has a vision in mind. We want look at what the university was in the past, but are also looking toward the future. We would like a president who will honor the past, but will also move the university forward."

In addition to assisting the committee, Parker will also be hosting a series of open forums for the rest of Southeast to voice their opinions on what they want from the new president. All three forums will be on Wednesday in the University Center Heritage Room. The first forum will be for the faculty and staff members from 1 to 1:45 p.m. The student forum will be from 3 to 3:45 p.m. Finally, the community forum will be from 4 to 4:45 p.m.

People who cannot attend the forums may also email their opinions to the search committee at regents@semo.edu. The committee will also post updates on the search after every meeting. The updates can be found at www.semo.edu/presidentsearch.