Presidential search: Committee has identified final candidates

Presidential search: Committee has identified final candidates

September 25, 2019

Dear students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors and community members,

The Presidential Search Advisory Committee (PSAC) met for nearly 30 hours this month to review almost 100 candidates who qualified for consideration to be our next president. In total, approximately 800 individuals were contacted by our search consultants or reached out to us with interest in the position.

Through a highly collaborative process, the PSAC reached consensus on 12 semi-finalists who were interviewed by the committee over two days. The semi-finalists were diverse and have impressive backgrounds and experience—seven are sitting presidents/chancellors/provosts, four are deans of large schools/colleges, and one comes from a non-traditional background. The PSAC discussed the strengths and limitations of each semi-finalist, carefully evaluating their qualifications against the presidential prospectus and reached consensus on four (unranked) to recommend to the Board of Regents.

I would like to thank the members of the PSAC for investing hundreds of hours reviewing and evaluating almost 100 candidates. With a passion for Pacific and appreciation for the importance of this weighty assignment, the committee worked earnestly to represent the best interests of the community. All Pacificans can be proud of the way the 17 members embraced a spirit of openness, trust, candor and vulnerability that led to true consensus. The qualities that make Pacificans special were evident to each candidate.

The committee’s work is now complete and over the coming weeks the Board of Regents will conduct detailed interviews with the finalists and perform additional background and reference checks to evaluate which individual is best suited to lead our great university. We will introduce Pacific’s next president by December. The president is expected to start on July 1, 2020.

I will update you again in late October.

Sincerely,

Norman Allen ’88, ’94
Chair, Presidential Search Advisory Committee
Board of Regents