October 14, 2004
Five finalists named in search for new UWT chancellor
Five finalists in the running to serve as UW Tacoma chancellor
Five finalists have now been selected from a field of nearly 90 applicants for the chancellorship of the University of Washington, Tacoma.
Screening interviews by the search committee were completed Sept. 28. Campus visits are scheduled in November and December.
The newest finalist to be named is John Miller, provost and vice president of academic affairs at Eastern Oregon University. He joins Michael J. Field, vice president for academic affairs and provost at Shawnee State University, in Ohio; Thomas L. Krepel, president of Chadron State College, in Nebraska; Steven G. Olswang, interim chancellor of the UW Tacoma; and Patricia Spakes, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania.
The candidates will give public presentations on the following days:
- Nov. 1 : Steven Olswang
- Nov. 8 : Thomas Krepel
- Nov. 23 : John Miller
- Nov. 30 : Patricia Spakes
- Dec. 6 : Michael Field
Each of the candidates will give a presentation from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in Carwein Auditorium on the day of their visit.
The candidates are being invited to spend two days meeting with UWT faculty, students, staff, community members and community college presidents, as well as with members of the University of Washington community.
The chancellor’s position became available when UW Tacoma Chancellor Vicky Carwein, hired in 1995 as the first permanent head of the campus, left to assume the presidency of Westfield State College, in Massachusetts.
The 12-person search committee, including faculty from UW Tacoma, UW Seattle and UW Bothell, as well as a student, a staff member and two members of the UWT advisory board, is chaired by Ginger MacDonald, director of UWT’s education program, and Bruce Bare, dean of the College of Forest Resources at the UW.
The applicant pool was strong, and members of the search committee are excited to introduce the top candidates, MacDonald has said. During their visits they will have enough time to meet with many constituent groups and do a public presentation.
The impressions candidates make on the campus and on the community will help the search committee determine which candidates to put on a short list to UW President Mark Emmert, who will make the final hiring decision.
Emmert has said that the chancellor’s job is a key leadership position within the University, but that it is also a key leadership position for the South Sound. UW Tacoma’s next chancellor, he has said, will have to be an energetic, experienced leader who can help propel the campus to the next level of stature and accomplishment.
In screening applicants, the search committee tried to identify candidates who would be equally at home in a faculty meeting or a legislative hearing, at a Chamber of Commerce meeting or a community event, said Bare.
The position advertisement calls for candidates to have a solid record of both academic leadership and fund raising, as well as an entrepreneurial spirit.
An upper-division and master’s-level campus, UW Tacoma opened in 1990 with a single academic program serving community college transfer students. It now offers 19 majors within seven academic programs including business; education; nursing; social work; interdisciplinary arts and sciences; urban studies; and computing and software systems. Enrollment at the campus, beginning its 15th year serving the South Sound, is about 2,100.
