VCU holds open forum to gather input on presidential search

By Mike Porter

VCU faculty, staff and students offered input on the selection of the university’s next president during an open forum today in the Student Commons Theater.

The successful candidate will replace President Eugene P. Trani, who will retire from his position as university president and president and chair of the VCU Health System next summer. He will remain at VCU as University Distinguished Professor.

Stephen R. Portch, Ph.D., Chancellor Emeritus of the University System of Georgia, led the discussions. Portch is serving as consultant to the Board of Visitors on the presidential search and transition process. He has assisted in a number of university presidential search efforts around the country, including the recent selection of Edward L. Ayers as president of the University of Richmond.

“There are two questions we need to consider as we begin this process,” Porch said. “What are the opportunities and challenges facing VCU over the next five to seven years? And given where you’d like to see VCU go over the next five to seven years, what characteristics would you like to see in the next president?”

A presidential search committee, chaired by immediate past Rector Ed Bersoff, Ph.D., will be named as early as next week. It will consist of 17 members, including six members of the Board of Visitors, five faculty representatives, two staff representatives, two students, one alumnus and one VCU Foundation member.  

Portch said the committee will be in a “heavy recruitment period” between mid-October and mid-December, with a list of semi-finalists developed by early winter and the selection and introduction of the new president by the end of the spring semester.

But Portch said the timetable could change.

“We will be driven by securing the best candidate and not by meeting a timetable,” Portch said.

Forum participants shared the characteristics they’d like to see in the next president, including a leader who invests in “human capital,” someone who supports diversity and slower growth at VCU, a president capable of leading a research university in the 21st century and someone who appreciates culture and the arts. 

Participants also shared their perspectives on the strengths of VCU that can be used in attracting the best candidates, including the university’s history of adapting to change, its diversity, its devotion to service and giving back to the community and a strong spirit of interdisciplinary cooperation and collaboration. 

Faculty, staff and students will have additional opportunities to offer input. Portch said three more open forums will be held in early October.