Dear Campus Community,
The Presidential Search Committee held its second meeting on Monday, March 26, 2018. The Committee began its morning with a curated history of the past presidents of the College presented by Dr. Jacob Nyenhuis, Interim Director of the VanRaalte Institute. The formal meeting opened with a devotional [1 Peter 4:10-11;1 Thessalonians 1:3] and prayer.
The Committee again reviewed the Charge to the Committee, adopted a schedule and timetable for the search, and spent time working on the position profile that will guide the search, including a description of the College and a statement of the leadership opportunities offered by Hope, as well as the leadership attributes and experience qualifications that will describe the successful candidate.
The weeks immediately ahead will be focused on finalizing the search profile and developing a plan for building the candidate pool. The Committee will meet again on May 3 to finalize the profile and will present the profile to the Board of Trustees at its May meeting. We plan to officially launch the search on May 10.
The summer will be devoted to developing the candidate pool. The evaluation of applications by Committee members will begin in late June and will continue through the full consideration application deadline of September 1.
During the months of September and October, the Committee will be focused on contacting references and completing preliminary interviews with a short list of candidates. A second round of finalist interviews will be scheduled in November, and the Board of Trustees hopes to meet and elect our new President in early December.
The Search Committee is well aware our search will be strengthened by the involvement and support the Hope College community. So we are grateful to the many members of the Hope Community who met with our consultant, Dr. Loren Anderson, during the pre-search study in late February, and to all those who completed the Presidential Survey. Looking ahead, when the search goes public on May 10, we hope that you will share the search profile with people who you think would be strong candidates and those in your network who might know others who would be strong candidates. The names of potential candidates should be sent to HopePresident@AGBSearch.com or to our AGB Search consultant: Dr. Loren Anderson, loren.anderson@agbsearch.com, 252-223-3566.
We will report to the campus community again following our next meeting on May 3. We thank you in advance for your support and your engagement in this important process.
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.