Trustees ask: What do you want to see in Purdue’s next president?
Trustees launch search with a survey to take nominations and shape a candidate profile of the 14th Purdue president, after Mung Chiang’s departure for Northwestern University.
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TRUSTEES ASK: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SEE IN PURDUE’S NEXT PRESIDENT?
Purdue trustees launched a survey Wednesday morning, asking campus and anyone else with a stake or interest in the university to weigh in on what they want in its next president, as a search starts to replace former President Mung Chiang.
“It’s important to us as a board that we hear from as many people as we can and to be as open and transparent as we can in our search for the 14th president of Purdue University,” Gary Lehman, trustees chair, said in a note sent to staff, faculty and staff Wednesday morning.
“Over these next weeks, we want to gather views from a wide range of individuals, citizens of Indiana and people around the world — alumni, faculty, staff, students, parents, anyone with an interest in the continued success of Purdue University,” Lehman wrote.
In June, shortly after Chiang announced that he planned to leave after June 30 to lead Northwestern University, Lehman, Purdue said the board had been working through how it would conduct a search for the university’s next president, even as trustees brought former Purdue President Mitch Daniels back on an interim basis.
In his re-introduction to campus, Daniels said in a July 1 video message to campus that he would work to keep momentum at Purdue but that he expected the assignment to be “very brief.”
The survey launched Wednesday asks a series of questions, including one that takes names of those participants would like to nominate for the position.
Other survey questions include:
What professional experiences are most important for Purdue’s next president?
What specific skills are most important for Purdue’s next president?
What challenges or opportunities will Purdue’s next president need to tackle in their first three years?
If, as many believe, technology and social changes will transform the entire higher education system, what must Purdue do to respond and succeed in a radically different environment?
What specific questions should the board ask candidates for Purdue’s next president?
In a release from the university, trustees said the survey “responses will be synthesized for the board, including through AI-assisted analysis of open-ended feedback, to inform development of the candidate profile.”
Trustee also introduced a website they said would provide regular updates during the search.
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