IUB chancellor search still far from complete

Members of the chancellor search committee said they still have significant work to do before selecting final candidates for the IU Bloomington chancellor and senior vice president for academic affairs position.\nSearch committee member and School of Public and Environmental Affairs professor Robert Kravchuk said he believes it is unrealistic to expect the committee to name candidates by the unofficial Jan. 1 deadline the IU board of trustees set. The committee hopes to select a candidate early in the spring semester.\n"The formal message from the trustees to the committee was that it should seek to complete its task by early in spring semester. The committee is trying to meet that deadline," said Trevor Brown, former dean of the School of Journalism and chair of the search committee.\nThe search involves a very specific set of criteria.\n"It's like looking for a spouse," Kravchuk said. "We need the perfect fit."\nThe search will be further delayed because of possible changes in the job description. IU board of trustees President Stephen Ferguson said the board might consider a split of the two jobs and have separate candidates for the IUB chancellor and the senior vice president for academic affairs.\n"Should there be a separation ... I think it will have an impact on the candidates interested in the job and on the qualifications of the job," Ferguson said. "I think that (decision) needs to be (made) immediately before we can finish the search."\nThe search committee is looking at candidates on a national scale.\nKravchuk said the committee will return to its original "long list." He said it will consider candidates whose personal circumstances -- which didn't permit them to be candidates during the first search -- might have changed. The executive search consultant has been asked to look at candidates who might not have been able to apply for the job the first time.\nKravchuk also said search committee members are putting forth their own nominations for candidates.\nThe question of splitting the chancellor and vice presidential duties into two separate positions arose when some faculty members began to criticize the leadership structure of the University last month. Some professors said a chancellor cannot be effective as an IUB chancellor if he or she also has University-wide responsibilities. Some professors at other IU campuses said they worry a senior vice president for academic affairs might be too focused upon Bloomington.\nThe search committee was forced to continue the search after IU President Adam Herbert rejected three final candidates Oct. 31. The committee, formed in early 2005, spent 10 months evaluating candidates with the help of an executive search firm.