On Monday, June 18th the Presidential Search Committee held its first meeting following the May 10th launch of the search for the 14th President of the College. We are writing to update you on the progress of the search process.
History is a wonderful teacher. We opened our meeting with a few thoughts from the letters Albertus C. Van Raalte wrote to Philip Phelps Jr. from 1857 to 1875. These letters are collected in the book, Envisioning Hope College. We were reminded that the devotion of these men to the cause of Christian higher education and their diligent work laid the foundation for the College. We too are devoted to this cause and are committed to being diligent in the work of the search, grounded in prayer.
Scott Van Oostendorp led us in devotion and prayer focusing on the prayers of Revelation 7 – praise, glory, wisdom, thanks, honor, power and strength – and the Lord’s prayer – thy will be done. God’s leading is steadfast and sure.
Loren Anderson provided a progress report on our candidate pool, which is the result of the nominations of members of the Hope community, focused advertising and targeted outreach. There is strong interest in the position and we have a robust pool of early candidates. The Committee reviewed and adopted a rating rubric we will use in assessing applications, ensuring all candidates are evaluated by a clear and common set of criteria based on the search profile. In addition, Dr. Sonja Trent Brown facilitated an implicit bias training session for the Committee.
Throughout the summer members of the Committee will review applicant files. At its September 10 meeting the Committee will narrow the active pool of candidates to a smaller group whose references will then be checked and in person interviews will follow.
We will continue to receive applications over the summer and, as we have done previously, we encourage you to consider persons who might provide strong and effective leadership as President of Hope. A number of you have submitted nominations and we encourage others to be similarly involved. As names come to mind, please forward them to us so that we might be in contact with additional potential candidates. You will find the search profile and the qualities we seek in our next President at: https://www.agbsearch.com/searches/president-hope-college. We are pleased with the quality of candidates who have indicated their interest in our search thus far and are confident we will be successful when the process is complete.
The Committee will continue to update the Hope community throughout the search, and we welcome your comments and questions at any time. You may write to us in care of HopePresident@agbsearch.com or to our AGB Search consultant: Dr. Loren Anderson, loren.anderson@agbsearch.com, (252) 223-3566. He will treat any information you provide as confidential.
Thank you for your continuing prayers and support.
Spera in Deo,
Suzanne L. Shier
Chair, Presidential Search Committee
Trustee, Hope College Board of Trustees
The mission of Hope College is to educate students for lives of leadership and service in a global society through academic and co-curricular programs of recognized excellence in the liberal arts and in the context of the historic Christian faith.