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This conversation is derived from a plenary session at the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) in Jacksonville, Florida, November 7, 2008.
A group of senior consultants with higher education executive search firms here discuss the search process in higher education and the role that search firms play in it. These consultants have front-row seats regarding the preparation and selection of leaders for colleges and universities. In addition, they are scholars on searches and the leadership pipeline in higher education.
The Higher Education Search Business
McDade: Tell me about “the higher education search business.”
Dowdall: Most people think that the role of the search firm is to bring candidates into a search who would not otherwise be there—to identify, cultivate, and recruit the strongest candidates, especially people who are not looking for a job but would be very strong candidates for the job. We definitely do this. But we also play a significant role in enhancing the search process so that committee members and the chair don’t have to figure out each step. We’ve done it all before and can advise them about the choices they have to make, help them get through rough spots, and move things along at a pace that is brisk while also allowing for sufficient deliberation.
Marchese: The most important role—the one people hire us for—is the recruitment of candidates. In search after search, 80 to 90 percent of the candidates a committee ends up considering turn out to have been recruited by us. Important secondary functions of a consultant are to help a committee execute a fair, politically astute process and to vet the backgrounds of finalists.
Jean A. Dowdall is a vice president in the higher education practice of Witt/Kieffer. She specializes in senior executive searches, having led over 150 searches for presidents, vice presidents, and deans. Her book, Searching for Higher Education Leadership: Advice for Candidates and Search Committees, was published in the ACE Series on Higher Education by Rowman & Littlefield. Theodore J. Marchese is senior consultant with Academic Search, Inc. Following a faculty and administrative career at Barat College, he spent 18 years with the American Association for Higher Education where, as vice president, he edited Change and the AAHE Bulletin. He authored The Search Committee Handbook, which has sold 29,000 copies. Narcisa A. Polonio is vice president for research, education, and board services for the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT), focusing on governing board leadership, presidential evaluation, and search services. She specializes in presidential and chancellor searches, having facilitated some 180 searches. She was president of Harcum College, PA, and Hudson County Community College, NJ, and director of the Office of Community Colleges of the New Jersey Department of Higher Education. Sharon A. McDade (moderator) is director of the Fellows Program, the signature leadership program of the American Council on Education (ACE). She has taught at The George Washington University and Teachers College, Columbia University, and has designed, directed, and taught in numerous leadership programs, including heading Harvard’s Institute for Educational Management and creating its Management Development Program.
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