Wright State to host symposium on higher education in Ohio

A distinguished panel of sitting university presidents and state lawmakers will discuss the state of higher education in Ohio during a symposium hosted by Wright State’s presidential search committee.

The Presidential Symposium takes place Wednesday, Oct. 19, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. in 109 Oelman Hall.

The event is open to the public, and students, faculty, staff and alumni are encouraged to attend.

The discussion will help Wright State’s Presidential Search and Screening Advisory Committee learn more about trends in public higher education in Ohio as well as the challenges and opportunities Wright State’s next president will face.

“The symposium will also help the committee members better understand what experience and skills the community thinks the next president should have,” said Doug Fecher, chair of the Presidential Search and Screening Advisory Committee, which is conducting a national search for the university’s seventh president. “We believe input from the panel will help the search committee develop a more complete picture of the type of president we should be looking for.”

Steve Johnson, president of Sinclair College, will moderate the symposium.

Panelists include Sharon Gaber, president of the University of Toledo; Mary Ellen Mazey, president of Bowling Green State University; Bruce Johnson, president of the Inter-University Council of Ohio; Mike Duffey, a member of the Ohio House of Representatives; and Peggy Lehner, a member of the Ohio Senate.

The search committee is seeking input from the symposium and other outreach efforts — including a university survey, public forums and interviews with Wright State stakeholders — to learn what the community is looking for in the next president.

The committee will use that input to create a presidential profile describing the ideal candidate and the opportunities that person will have at Wright State. The profile will be used to help select candidates to interview for the position on campus.

The committee plans to present the presidential profile to the university’s Board of Trustees for approval in late October.

David R. Hopkins — who led Wright State during a campus expansion, record levels of enrollment and fundraising and national recognition for community service and being disability and military friendly — will retire as president when his contract expires June 30, 2017.

The search committee includes more than 20 representatives of the Board of Trustees, students, faculty, staff, deans, retirees and alumni as well as Dayton-area community members. The committee is working with Academic Search, an executive search firm specializing in higher education, on the search process.

More information on Wright State’s presidential search is available at wright.edu/presidential-search.