Search committee, executive search firm named to select next chancellor of UVa-Wise

A fourteen-member search committee has been appointed to help direct the selection of the next chancellor of The University of Virginia's College at Wise. The group will begin work immediately, with top candidate recommendations expected in the spring of 2001.

The committee includes faculty, staff, a student, and representatives from the UVa-Wise Board and the University of Virginia's Board of Visitors. Members of the search committee are: William Crutchfield, chair of the UVa-Wise Committee of the Board of Visitors; M. J. Dixon, UVa-Wise Student Government Association president; Tami Ely, director of the UVa-Wise annual fund; Dawn Gilbert, Don Green, Larry Munsey, Don Pippin, Ruby Rogers, and Henry Winkler, all members of the UVa-Wise Board; Gary Juhan, vice chancellor for student affairs; Shelia Schmuck, associate professor of nursing and chair of the UVa-Wise Faculty Senate; Rachel Tighe, assistant professor of communication; and Brian Wills, associate professor of history and chair of the Department of History and Philosophy. The search committee will be chaired by William Sturgill of Norton, who also chairs the UVa-Wise Board.

"UVa-Wise is beginning this search from a position of strength thanks, in large part, to the work of Chancellor Jay Lemons," Sturgill said Wednesday. "Although we hate to lose Chancellor Lemons, this search offers UVa-Wise an opportunity to think about where it wants to be and what it wants to achieve in the next decade."

The search committee members were announced today during an afternoon meeting of the UVa-Wise Faculty Senate. Members were notified of their selection in an Oct. 27 letter from U.Va. President John T. Casteen III.

"Under Jay Lemons' leadership, the college has gained great public respect for the quality of the educational programs it provides and has made a real difference in the lives of many people in the region it serves," Casteen wrote. "Your help in recommending its next chancellor will be vitally important to the future of The University of Virginia's College at Wise."

In the letter, Casteen requested that the group forward its recommendations for the next chancellor to him "in time to appoint the new chancellor by the end of the 2001 spring term." According to the UVa-Wise Board's bylaws, President Casteen will review the UVa-Wise Board's top candidate or candidates, designate a nominee for the chancellorship and make a recommendation for formal election by the Board of Visitors.

Lemons, who will leave his post as UVa-Wise chancellor in early January, was named the 14th president of Susquehanna University in October by the Pennsylvania college's board of directors. A private undergraduate institution with 1,600 students, Susquehanna University is the top regional liberal arts college in the North, according to U.S. News and World Report.

Chancellor of UVa-Wise since 1992, Lemons came to the College after serving as chief of staff in the president's office at U.Va. During his tenure, Lemons has directed a variety of important projects including the College's 1999 name change. In the last two years, UVa-Wise has been listed among the South's top public liberal arts colleges by U.S. News and World Report.

The search committee will be assisted in its work by Education Management Network, an executive search firm in Massachusetts. A division of Witt/Kieffer, Education Management Network has recently been engaged in searches for presidents at The University of the South, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and Susquehanna University. Nancy A. Martin, senior vice president and co-director of EMN/Witt/Kieffer, and Lucy A. Leske, a consultant with the firm, will work with the search committee. Martin and Leske anticipate meeting with the committee several times during the coming months.

Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor George E. Culbertson will serve as interim chancellor until a new chancellor is named. A graduate of UVa-Wise with a doctorate in mathematics from Virginia Tech, Culbertson returned to the College in 1970 after six years as a math professor at the United States Naval Academy. During his 30 years at the College, Culbertson has served in a variety of administrative roles including registrar, associate dean of the college, acting vice chancellor and dean, chief financial officer, and dean.

For more information, contact Jane Meade-Dean in the Office of College Relations at 540-328-0130 or via e-mail at jmeade-dean@virginia.edu.