USM announces search committee for new chancellor

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University System of Maryland Board of Regents chair Linda Gooden and vice chair Barry Gossett will co-lead the system’s search for a new chancellor, Gooden announced Tuesday.

The regents are conducting a national search to find a replacement for current chancellor Robert Caret, who announced in May that he would not remain with the system once his current contract expires next June.

Gooden and Gossett will lead a search committee made up of regents, university presidents, university fundraisers and other stakeholders. The search will be assisted by former chancellor William “Brit” Kirwan as a consultant and will use Witt/Kieffer as an executive search firm.

“I am pleased that the search committee brings together such an accomplished group with exceptional leadership ability,” Gooden said in a statement. “Our goal is to recruit an exceptional leader who will leverage the collective strength of our system and work with our presidents to meet the research, innovation and workforce goals of the State of Maryland. I am confident that this is the search committee that will get us there.”

The search committee includes regents Gary Attman, Ellen Fish, Michelle Gourdine, Isiah “Ike” Leggett, Robert Neall, Drew Needham and Robert Rauch.

University presidents on the committee include Bowie State University president Aminta Breaux; University of Maryland, Baltimore County president Freeman Hrabowski; and Towson University President Kimberly Schatzel.

The other members of the search committee are Robert Bedingfield, a partner at Ernst & Young; Veronica Cool, managing partner at Cool & Associates; Patricia Florestano, a former Maryland secretary of higher education; Geofff Gonella, board chair of the University of Maryland, College Park Foundation trustees; Robert Kauffman, chair of the Council of University System Faculty; and Bonnie Stein, board chair of the University System of Maryland Foundation.

In a release, the system said the committee would spend the next couple of months meeting with stakeholders, reviewing nominations and applications and conducting interviews with candidates. It will send top candidates to the Board of Regents for the final selection.

Typically searches for leaders in the system are conducted behind closed doors and candidates are not known until the board makes a final decision.

The board is also conducting searches for new presidents at Coppin State University and the University of Maryland, College Park.