Oregon State trustees announce presidential search process

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State University’s Board of Trustees Monday announced a community engagement process to help the board select OSU’s next president.

Ed Ray, who has served as the university’s 14^th president since July 2003, announced on March 22 that he will step down on June 30, 2020, when his current five-year contract is completed.

“While the ultimate decision to choose a new president lies with the OSU Board of Trustees, the process will engage the university community and OSU’s many stakeholders,” said Rani Borkar, chair of the university’s board of trustees, in an announcement to OSU faculty, staff, students and stakeholders.

Borkar said trustees will host listening sessions in late April and May and use a web-based survey to gather input regarding the university’s anticipated needs over the next 10 years and the background, skills and experience needed by OSU’s next president. The listening sessions will include several held in Corvallis among faculty, staff, students and community members, as well as sessions in Portland and at OSU-Cascades in Bend. The board will utilize the feedback to create a leadership profile for OSU’s next president to use in recruitment of candidates and its decision-making process.

Trustees also have launched a presidential search website that will share information on how to participate in listening sessions, complete the survey and nominate candidates.

Borkar has appointed Darry Callahan to serve as chair of the presidential search committee and trustees Patty Bedient, Preston Pulliams and Julie Manning to serve on the search committee. Callahan is an Oregon native, OSU alumnus, retired corporate leader and former vice chair of the board. Bedient is an OSU alumna and retired executive of Weyerhaeuser; Pulliams is the former president of Portland Community College; and Manning is a health care industry executive and former Corvallis mayor.

The search committee also will include representatives from OSU’s faculty, staff, students, alumni, administration and stakeholders, the OSU Foundation, as well as representatives from the broader community that the university serves. The committee’s membership will be announced later this month.

“This committee will lead efforts to recruit a visionary and accomplished leader, who will further harness the university’s momentum as a leading land grant public research institution and guide OSU to even greater levels of accomplishment,” said Borkar.

The board has retained Witt/Kieffer, an executive search firm with 50 years specializing in higher education, health care and non-profit leadership recruitment, to assist its effort. The search firm and committee will recruit candidates over the summer and early fall and will interview semifinalists in October. As board chair, Borkar will determine which finalist candidates will participate in campus interviews in November before the board chooses a new OSU president in December.