The Weber State University presidential search committee has begun looking for current President Charles Wight’s replacement after his resignation.
The committee held two public meetings on April 4 at the Ogden and Davis campuses, explaining the search process and collecting feedback on what students, faculty and the public want in their next president, as well as how they can implement that feedback in the presidential position announcement.
Seventeen members of the search committee were present at these meetings led by Board of Regents member Jesselie Anderson and Dave Buhler, commissioner of higher education.
“We have a really diverse makeup of this search committee, and every single one of us is invested in picking the very best president for Weber State,” Anderson said.
Buhler explained that by law, the Board of Regents in collaboration with the Board of Trustees is responsible for selecting a new president. The appointed search committee is tasked with finding the best candidates and finalists to be considered for president.
After receiving 40 or 50 applicants and nominations, the search committee will meet and select 10 or 12 candidates they would like to interview. Of those 10 or 12 candidates, they will recommend three to five finalists to The Board of Regents.
Those finalists will then interview with stakeholders, the Board of Regents and the executive committee of the Board of Trustees.
The early part of the search process is confidential, so candidates won’t have to jeopardize current positions they hold.
“We don’t announce a timeline because the amount of time taken will be the amount that we all feel is necessary to find the very best president,” Buhler said. “Roughly speaking, we hope to find someone by the end of this calendar year.”
The committee opened the floor to students, faculty, alumni and members of the community to give their input on what characteristics they would like the next president to have and what they would like them to do or continue doing.
Commenters said they would like to see more people have WSU as their first choice. The university has a reputation of being “Just Weber,” but students and faculty said it’s better than it has been made out to be.
Faculty member Pieter van der Have wanted the next president to make WSU more accessible to the community.
“I would like to see, for Weber’s benefit and our programs’ benefits, find(ing) a president or candidate for president who would be willing to go the extra mile in marketing at Weber State University,” van der Have said.
Student Kyia Hill advocated for the next president to continue with green initiatives both WSU and Wight have implemented.
“Weber State has actually done so much for sustainability. They have saved over $11 million to date since we’ve had our sustainability program and that’s about $2 million every year,” Hill said.
WSU Public Relations Director Allison Hess mentioned she would like the next president to be as available for communication as Wight has been.
“A president who is accessible — not just to our campus, which Chuck has been fantastic at — but to the community through the media. That is something I think that benefits the campus very well,” Hess said.
The presidential search will continue to be updated at weber.edu/presidentialsearch
