University System of New Hampshire Board of Trustees Chairman Tim Riley announced today the members of the search committee that will be working over the next several months to help select the successor to University of New Hampshire President Mark W. Huddleston.
Huddleston announced last month that he will retire from the presidency as of June 30, 2018. He has served as UNH president since 2007 and is the longest-serving president in the university’s 150-year history.
Riley has appointed the following individuals to the search committee:
- John Small, Search Committee Chair, USNH Trustee and Vice Chair of the Board
- Ted Dey, Search Committee Vice Chair, USNH Trustee
- Kass Ardinger, USNH Trustee
- Jamie Burnett, USNH Trustee
- Todd Leach, Chancellor, USNH
- Heidi Bostic, Dean, College of Liberal Arts, Professor of French, UNH
- Kevan Carpenter, Director, College of Engineering and Physical Sciences Technical Service Center, UNH
- Pat Closson, Incoming President, UNH Alumni Association Board of Directors
- Rick Cote, Professor and Chair, Molecular, Cellular and Biomedical Sciences, College of Life Sciences and Agriculture
- Lucy Hodder, Director of Health Law and Policy Programs, UNH School of Law and Institute for Health Policy and Practice, CHHS
- Scott Smith, Professor of Classics, Department of Classics, Humanities, and Italian Studies, College of Liberal Arts, Faculty Senate Vice Chair
- Charlie French, Team Leader, UNH Cooperative Extension
- Brian McCabe, Incoming Chair, UNH Foundation Board of Directors
- Melinda Negron-Gonzales, Program Coordinator, Politics and Society Program, UNH Manchester
- Tim Riley, Board Chair
- Carley Rotenberg, Student Body President, UNH Student Senate
- Jamie Nolan, Associate Vice President for Community, Equity, and Diversity, UNH
- Chris Sand, Senior Business Services Assistant, Facilities Business Service Center, UNH
- Nate Stafford, External Affairs Officer, UNH Graduate Student Senate
- Palligarnai Vasudevan, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, Professor of Chemical Engineering, CEPS, UNH
- Stan Waddell, Chief Information Officer, UNH
“The presidential selection process is one of the most important responsibilities the Board of Trustees discharges. We are truly grateful to these individuals for their active participation in the process to select the next leader of UNH,” Riley said.
The composition of the committee conforms to the trustees’ practice of including representatives of the principal stakeholder groups comprising the university campuses. The search process will reflect best practices in the current higher education hiring environment to attract and recruit an outstanding pool of candidates.
“We will be working as a team to listen to the constituency groups regarding what they hope to see in the next UNH president to draft a ‘challenge profile’ to use as part of the search,” said John Small, chair of the search committee. “We will follow an aggressive schedule, but will not trade speed for quality as we search for someone who has a vision for UNH and a passion for higher learning, advanced research and service to the state.”
The challenge profile, position announcement and other pertinent information will be posted on the UNH web site over the coming weeks.
The search committee will review and interview candidates and then make final recommendations to USNH Board of Trustees. Following approval by the board, the new president will take office as soon as he or she is available after June 30, 2018.
