By JORDAN GREEN, Editor-in-Chief
Several Northwestern alumni and community members have been appointed to a search committee involved in finding a new university president.
Northwestern officials announced Monday that 10 community members, three regents, two faculty members, one administrator and one student are among the people appointed to the committee.
The group is tasked with finding a replacement for Northwestern President Dr. Janet Cunningham, who announced her retirement in January.
The search committee’s first meeting was Feb. 18, officials said. The committee met with leaders of Higher Education Leadership Search, a nationwide firm the Regional University System of Oklahoma has hired to recruit candidates for the job.
The student on the committee is Erika Hernandez, a senior education major from Laverne. Here’s the rundown of people on the committee.
REGENTS, NWOSU EMPLOYEES:
• Regent Eric Fisher, the committee chair
• Regent Jane McDermott
• Regent Chris Van Denhende
• Dr. Roxie James, chair of the Department of English, Foreign Language and Humanities
• Dr. Dean Scarbrough, chair of the Department of Agriculture
• Dr. David Pecha, vice president for administration
• Kevin Fields, health and safety officer
COMMUNITY MEMBERS:
• Jim Dunning, owner at ICT-CPA
• Tom Evans, corporate valuation at Encompass Financial Services
• Todd Holder, Alva State Bank and Holder Drug
• Dwight Hughes, superintendent and CEO at Autry Technology Center
• Alexa Humphries, financial adviser at Edward Jones
• Connor Martin, Alva City Council member and owner of Peak Environment
• Janice Melton, former warden at Bill Johnson Correctional Center
• L.D. Rapp, Northwestern Foundation chair
• Kyle Reynolds, superintendent of Woodward Public Schools
• John Ryerson, owner at Starr Lumber Company
The search committee will review candidates’ application materials, narrowing down the number of candidates and preparing a list of finalists. From that list, the three regents on the committee will recommend a candidate to the full Board of Regents. The full board, McDermott said, will vote to hire the next president after a series of interviews, background checks and other assessments.
This is the first presidential search process at Northwestern in nearly 20 years because Cunningham was appointed to the presidency without such a search in 2006. The new president will take office July 1.
The university has created a web page with information about the search process. People can find the page by typing “Presidential Search” into the A-Z index on Northwestern’s website, and by following the link https://www.nwosu.edu/presidential-search.