Challenge Profile for UNH Presidential Search Now Available

July 15, 2006–LEE, NH –The search committee charged with recommending the next president at the University of New Hampshire has finalized and released a “Challenge Profile” that summarizes the challenges and opportunities the next UNH president will face and the characteristics the committee will look for in candidates for the position. The document can be found on the University System of New Hampshire (USNH) web site. Download Profile

The Challenge Profile states that the next president at UNH “will assume leadership of an institution well set on a trajectory of excellence with clearly established strengths, a venerable tradition, and a deeply committed campus and extended community.” It further states that “the University and the USNH Board of Trustees seek a president who relishes the prospect of working with a talented team of colleagues, with ever new opportunities and partnerships, and who will make a sustained commitment of her or his time to seeing UNH through to greater achievements.”

Among the many responsibilities of the next leader of UNH, the search committee is looking for candidates to strengthen UNH as the state’s premier public research university; further the distinctive mission of UNH as the state’s land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant university by fostering a culture of engagement and outreach; and strengthen UNH as an institution offering students a distinctive and holistic educational experience in the context of a renewed general education program, one that integrates disciplinary scholarship, preparation for success in a global economy, co-curricular activities, athletics, and residential living.

Among the numerous qualifications and characteristics the committee will look for are “outstanding academic credentials; a person with a keen intellectual interest, lively mind, and deep respect for academic inquiry, who exemplify the central mission of the University as well as stimulate and nurture it,” and “a demonstrated ability to be both hands on and hands around” while having “an abiding and demonstrated commitment to students, and all aspects of their education and welfare.”

Dr. Ann Weaver Hart stepped down as president in June 2006 and J. Bonnie Newman is serving as interim president until a successor is named and formally takes over the position. The search committee was named in June 2006 and is chaired by Edward Dupont, vice chair of the University System of New Hampshire Board of Trustees.

Advertisements based on the content of the Challenge Profile will be placed locally and nationally in July and interested individuals are encouraged to apply by September 10, 2006. After that date applications will be reviewed in an effort to narrow the field to semi-finalists who will be interviewed in person. Once the pool has been narrowed to a few finalists, those candidates will be invited to come to Durham and Manchester and participate in open forums in late fall. The committee will then make final recommendations to USNH Chancellor Stephen Reno. The Chancellor will do a thorough review of the finalists and submit his recommendation to the full Board of Trustees in December. Following approval by the Board, the new president will take office as soon as he or she is available.

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