USU Presidential Search Committee receives feedback at public meetings
Faculty, staff, students and the general public were given the opportunity to provide input to the Utah State University Presidential Search Committee at three meetings held on Jan. 25 and 26, the first few of six total meetings planned to receive feedback from the USU community.
The input will be used to create a “presidential leadership profile,” a list of things people would like to see in the next president.
At the meeting on Jan. 25, multiple faculty and staff members asked for the new president to demonstrate a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Cree Taylor, the special assistant to the dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the USU College of Humanities and Social Sciences, emphasized that it’s important to ask what the next president will do to help students, faculty and staff feel their commitment to DEI.
“We want a president who shares these commitments that we have written down to diversity, equity and inclusion,” Taylor said. “I’m also curious about those actionable steps that they will take for the students, the grad students, the staff, the faculty, so they feel that commitment.”
Multiple attendees also asked that the new president recognize the importance of USU’s staff.
Matthew Wappett, the executive director of the Institute for Disability Research, Policy & Practice at USU, said staff is the only group not represented on the search committee, even though they are the largest employee group at USU.
“There is a huge need for the new president — when they come in — to recognize the importance and the central role the staff play in making the university function as a whole,” Wappett said.
Felicia Gallegos, the outreach coordinator for the Sexual Assault and Anti-Violence Information office, said sexual misconduct should be at the forefront of conversation when searching for the next president.
Other topics brought up by faculty and staff included sustainability, mental health, fundraising, treatment of graduate students, the religious climate of Utah, research, and relationships with outside groups, including the Utah Legislature and tribal communities.
At a meeting on the afternoon of Jan. 26, students shared some of their preferred qualifications for a president: someone who would encourage a culture of professionalism, respect freedom of speech and see students as a person rather than a number. Multiple students brought up increased financial support with rising inflation.
Ph.D. student Mudasir Mustafa asked why there wasn’t more diversity on the panel for the presidential search, pointing out that there’s only one student on the committee out of the 18 members.
“It might be worth looking at maybe adding more students, adding nontraditional students and adding students from different racial and gender backgrounds, and maybe adding international students,” Mustafa said.
A meeting for the general public to give feedback was held on Jan. 26 later in the evening.
Cache County executive David Zook said he views the president of USU as a valuable member of the community and suggested five ideal characteristics: the president should love the students, protect the students, love Cache Valley, allow for and encourage a multitude of opinions on campus and be innovative.
Other members of the community said the next president should “hit the ground running on Capitol Hill” and have an understanding of trauma related to sexual assault.
A virtual meeting for all USU stakeholders statewide was held on Jan. 27. USU Uintah Basin stakeholders and USU Eastern stakeholders will each have a meeting on Feb. 2.
Feedback can also be emailed to usupresidentialsearch@ushe.edu or submitted online as an anonymous comment at ushe.edu/usu-president-search-feedback.
— darcy.ritchie@usu.edu
Featured photo by Claire Ott