The committee charged with identifying candidates for the presidency of the University of Georgia has narrowed its list to 12, according to a Nov. 7 update from Regent Larry Walker, chair of the UGA Presidential Search Committee.
At a three-hour meeting on Oct. 25, the committee members each brought their list of “top 10” candidates from the pool of applicants.
The pool of 12 is composed of sitting presidents, sitting provosts and one sitting dean of a large college at a major university. All candidates have extensive backgrounds at large public research institutions of very high quality, including several that are members of the Association of American Universities.
“It was a strong pool and included 16 sitting presidents,” Walker said. “Our discussion identified 12 candidates for ‘directed referencing,’ which allows us to learn more about the candidates at this stage without jeopardizing their confidentiality.”
As a next step in the search process, committee members will call references provided by the candidates and ask them a common set of questions.
The search firm assisting in the search will continue to try to recruit other applicants into the pool, and if the committee so chooses it could review their applications.
Current plans call for the search committee, which will meet again in December, to provide a list in January of candidates to the chancellor and the board of regents. They will make the final decision on who will become UGA’s 22nd president after current President Michael F. Adams steps down in June.