Key meeting held Tuesday for ISU presidential search committee

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ISU President Gregory Geoffroy

David Bartholomew

The search for Iowa State’s next president continued Tuesday when a meeting was held in the Krieger Board Room in Gerdin to hear a search report from Daniel Parker of Parker Executive Search, an Atlanta-based firm that is assisting in the presidential search.

During the meeting, Parker was in general agreement with the search committee on basic criterion for the candidates.

“We’re taking into consideration gender equity, and we are reviewing candidates from both public and private universities as well as looking at two international candidates,” Parker said.

Parker said there are 94 nominations for the presidency post along with 31 more individuals who appear to have a strong interest in potentially applying for the post.

“President [Gregory] Geoffroy has strong notoriety and respect among the candidates,” Parker said when he reported the amount of candidates is likely to increase even though 94 is substantially more than the average number of applicants in the presidential search.

“Four or five other universities are also in a presidential search process,” Parker said. “But this will not interfere with our efforts to find strong candidates who are committed to Iowa State.”

After the meeting, the search committee began its early review of the candidates in a closed session, during which the names of the candidates were not to be released. The process is expected to be finalized within the coming months.