Chancellor's search: list narrows

By Phil Pfuehler

A local committee has trimmed the number of applicants to succeed UW-River Falls Chancellor Gary Thibodeau to less than 10.

Search committee chairwoman Suzanne Hagen said background checks are being done. Hagen said the checks involve phone interviews with those who know the semi-finalists.

At a closed meeting by the committee Monday, the number of candidates should be cut to five finalists. Hagen said the committee received 41 applications for the UW-River Fall chancellor's position.

UW-System President Katharine Lyall and some members of the Board of Regents will meet with the search committee next Thursday, Feb. 3, at UW-RF. The committee, regents and Lyall will review qualifications of the finalists.

Hagen said the candidates may be publicly announced the following week.

"We will be scheduling campus visits for the finalists as soon as possible after that announcement," she said. "We are in the initial planning stages for the visits, but do plan on scheduling about 2-hour open forum sessions for the campus and community to meet each finalist and have an opportunity for interaction."

Hagen, UW-RF professor of speech communications, said public input during campus hearings influenced the committee's search.

"I think our conversations this fall involving campus and community members were helpful in surfacing important issues for UW-RF as we look ahead," she said. "It was certainly helpful in guiding the committee through the stages of the screening process."

If progress continues, Hagen said the UW Board of Regents will likely name the new UW-RF chancellor by early March.

For the latest on the chancellor's search, check this Internet Web site: www.chancellor_search @uwrf.edu.