By Ellen Chaffee 

We can learn a great deal about how to have a successful presidential search by taking the presidential candidate’s perspective.
As the questions I posed last week indicate, candidates are looking for a good match between themselves and the institution, and they are looking for indications that both they and the institution can be successful together.
The most important preparation for the “good match” part of the process is for university and community to know themselves well and present themselves with authenticity. The new president should be able to say at the end of the first year, “This is just as I thought it would be.” In the best searches, each candidate is also open and honest so that each of the parties can make sound judgments about the quality of the fit between the two.
Based on last week’s questions, the university and community will want to put their best foot forward on dimensions like these:
* Quality faculty and staff who understand and actively support the institution.
* Community members and alumni who appreciate and actively support the institution.
* Positive attitudes and confidence.
* Evidence of teamwork and initiative.
* Welcoming spirit, interest in helping to ensure a smooth transition into the community.
* Evidence of generosity of spirit, time, talent, and treasure.
I have no doubt that VCSU and the community will score very well on all of these dimensions, as they always do.
Candidates will also see an online master’s program that is on the verge of national prominence; several attractive new majors; an exemplary relationship with economic development and the community; a new center of excellence for business software workforce development; plans for a fitness, sports, and community gateway center; and several enrollment-driving collaborations with other institutions in the region and beyond.
However, we also need to consider our challenges.
Candidates will recognize that depopulation of the region has been and will continue to be a devastating force, faculty and staff salaries are very low, enrollment has declined despite extraordinary measures over a number of years, scholarship funding lags significantly behind our competitors, measures to recruit non-traditional and distant students will require even more up-front investment than is already there, legislators and others are again talking about closing or re-purposing higher education institutions, we have not had a new building since 1973, and our deferred maintenance bill is over $10 million.
In summary, they will see a university with extraordinary vitality and potential that is working hard against very significant odds. The more progress we can make this year on all of these dimensions, the more attractive the presidency will be to someone of experience and quality. On campus, faculty, staff, and administrators are developing and pursuing focused strategies we believe will have the greatest positive impact both next year and long beyond. My mental image is that we are running hard, pushing a sled so it can really take off when we let it go. If you want to be more involved, please contact me or whoever leads your area of interest.
Update and correction: The Presidential Search Committee will hold its first meeting on December 3. The committee will not be using a professional search firm.