Presidential Search Committee for Kent State Taking Shape

The search for the successor to Kent State University President Lester Lefton is starting to take shape, as Tuesday the university's board of trustees named the chair of the search committee.

Richard Marsh, a 1973 Kent State graduate and member of the board of trustees, was named chair of the search committee by the board.

Marsh said the rest of the committee members, which should include representatives from the study body, faculty and community at-large, could be fleshed out within the next few weeks.

"I expect the presidency of Kent State will be a highly sought after opportunity," he said. "And (it's) a process which gives the whole university community a chance to rethink their strategic vision and consider what sort of leader is needed to execute this strategy."

Lefton, who has served as president of Kent State for seven years, announced in April his plan to retire when his contract expires at the end of June 2014.

The university will hire a consulting firm to assist in the search for a new president, but who that firm will be and how much it will cost Kent State is unclear at this point.

Marsh said he expects to take in thoughts and opinions from a wide range of members in both the university and broader communities via a forthcoming website and listening session meetings.

"So we'll be giving the greater community several chances to give us input, and that's going to be an important part of our thinking as we go through this," he said.

University policy dictates the actual search committee must incorporate specific representatives, such as faculty, administration and students. Marsh expects it will expand to include members of possibly the city administration, as the search committee in 2006 that selected Lefton included Kent City Manager Dave Ruller.

But Marsh doesn't want the committee to become too large and slowed by its own beaurocracy. 

"One of the things we're going to do is have the board really spend some time thinking about strategy for Kent State," he said. "Clearly we're a much different, a much better university than we were prior to 2006 when Dr. Lefton joined us. That's great, but we need to try to look five years ahead ... to where we want to go.

"We want to make sure we have a diversity of views," Marsh said. "The other side is not letting it get too large because it just gets unwieldy."