Applicant field narrows in search for chancellor

Long-time Bloomington Chancellor Kenneth Gros Louis leaves big shoes to fill when he retires July 1.\nOne of three administrators -- from three different institutions -- will have the chance to try.\nSharon Stephens Brehm, Ohio University provost; Richard Edwards, University of Nebraska-Lincoln senior vice chancellor for academic affairs; and Cora Bagley Marrett, University of Massachusetts-Amherst senior vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost, are the three finalists to replace Gros Louis.\nThe board of trustees met in executive session Friday in Indianapolis to interview the candidates and make recommendations to IU President Myles Brand, said John Walda, trustees president. \n"(Brand) made the candidates available to the trustees so that we could give him feedback, and then he will make the final decision after receiving our feedback," Walda said. "I'm convinced that they are some of the best potential chancellors in the country. Any of them could do the job in an exceptional way."\nUniversity spokeswoman Susan Dillman said the three candidates remain from a pool of more than 230 nominations submitted last summer. From those recommendations, Dillman said 50 people formally applied. This pool was then narrowed down to eight semi-finalists, she said. \nThe candidates then had interviews various people affiliated with the University -- from school deans to clerical staff members to students, Dillman said. Recommendations from all the interviews were taken into account when choosing the three finalists, she said. \nGros Louis, who was in Spain during the interviews with the trustees, said he has been a resource to the candidates throughout the replacement process and will continue to be after an announcement is made. \n"Any way that I can help in the transition, I would be happy to," Gros Louis said. "I was very pleased with the people I saw, and I think that they all are qualified."\nGros Louis emphasized the importance of individual personalities and demeanors when choosing a dean or chancellor-level administrator. He said that when searches are in their final stages, candidates are all qualified and it then becomes a matter of fitting managerial style to the specific job.\n"In any of these searches, it really is the question of what is the best fit," he said. "When I have appointed deans over the last 20 years or so … what I looked for is the kind of person that the faculty in this school would be comfortable with and visa versa."\nDillman, who was not in the interviews with the board of trustees, said they ran upward of an hour to an hour and a half. She said no timetable for a decision has been announced. \n"It is my understanding that the decision will be made fairly quickly," Dillman said. "There may be a short period of negotiation as well."\nGros Louis also said the fact that none of the finalists are from within the IU community has its positive and negative aspects.\n"The pro, of course, is when somebody comes in from the outside, they do bring in a fresh view," Gros Louis said. "And the down side is they have a longer learning curve to find out about the campus and the institution. It's a fresh perspective versus a knowledge base."\nThe applications were initially reviewed by a search and screen committee, headed by George Walker, vice president for research and dean of the graduate school.\n"I think the search and screen committee did a first-rate job in finding exactly the right kind of people, and I commend Vice President Walker for his leadership," Walda said. "As a field … the three candidates are outstanding"