Wanted: A Unifyer For WLU

WHEELING - Stakeholders at West Liberty University indicate they want the school's next president to be a "unifyer" - someone who can bring together staff, students and all departments at WLU while also addressing alumni and state legislature concerns.

Two representatives of AGB Search have been on the WLU campus this week, holding listening sessions and seeking to determine just what qualities stakeholders want to see in the next WLU president.

"There's a real opportunity here at West Liberty for someone to come in and make a difference," said former Marshall University President Jerry Gilbert, now an executive search consultant with AGB. "Their first task is going to be to unify the campus. The campus is in need of someone to come in and create that sense of togetherness and pull the campus together.

"I think it's possible. I think people want that."

The last of the listening sessions - a session open to the public at large - took place Wednesday evening. It was sparsely attended, but other sessions did bring in large numbers of people concerned for the future of WLU, said Richard Wueste, senior executive search consultant with AGB.

Two sessions specifically for WLU students each attracted about 30 people, he said.

"It was a good lesson in communication," Wueste explained. "For example, in the beginning there were a number of them asking, 'Are we going to lose the arts?"

Wueste and Gilbert took the time to introduce to them a member of the WLU Board of Trustees who is serving as chairman of the search committee - Tom Cervone. Cervone is a WLU alumnus with a degree in theater who is the managing director of the Department of Theatre at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

"There was a collective sigh of relief in the room when they realized there was somebody on the search team who understands what they are trying to do, and that the arts have an important place at West Liberty University," Wueste said.

"It shows that great care has been taken to form this committee to make sure different approaches and different ideas are represented. The fact they are coming together to agree on a pathway means everyone has to compromise to make it happen."

This is also a great sign that "the right leader can accomplish great things here," Wueste continued.

Wueste and Gilbert said what they have learned during the listening sessions this week is that morale at WLU "is not at a high level."

"There needs to be some trust-building," Gilbert said. The next step for AGB Search will be to work with the school's marketing and communication departments to craft a job posting that reflects the school as it wishes to be seen, according to Gilbert and Wueste.

The posting will be advertised, but the pair added they also will mine their own contacts in academia to find candidates who would be "a good fit" for the job.

"Some of the best candidates may not know yet they are looking for a job," Wueste said. The WLU president's job is expected to be posted throughout February.

AGB will then interview, research and vet those they deem to be top candidates. A group of about three finalists next will be asked to come to the campus to meet with the board of trustees, students, staff and alumni.

The final choice will be the board of trustees' decision, and is expected to come before the end of the current semester, Wueste and Gilbert said.