ASHLAND, Ore. —SOU’s presidential search committee is choosing soon, who it wants to be the next president of the Ashland university. While the school started the process of hiring its next president, we won’t know who it’ll be, just yet.
The school will now enter into contract negotiations with its top candidate. The Board of Trustees held a special meeting late Tuesday to decide who it wants to have as its next university president.
The search for the candidate to take on the role of SOU’s new president is narrowing.
Over the past three weeks, the five finalists have visited the Ashland campus. The finalists, in order of their visits, are Chris Gilmer, Brock Tessman, Dr. Curtis Bridgeman, Dr Junius Gonzales, and Dr. Rick Bailey.
Search Committee Chair Daniel Santos says the school is choosing from a great group. While he declined to speak specifically about any of the candidates, he says it will be a tough decision for the board, but one they are ready to tackle.
“We stand ready to have a successful search completed here in the next week or two,” said Santos.
Tuesday in the executive session, the board of trustees discussed which candidate or candidates, it feels is most fit for the position. The school says after the deliberations wrap up, Trustee Santos will enter into negotiations with the top choice. The school will not make any public announcement about its selection, until after a contract has been finalized.
“The board made a very conscious decision to have what we call an open process where the faculty, students, staff, and community would know who these candidates are and have an opportunity to provide input on it and know we are deliberating on this,” said Santos.
As students and staff await the decision, students tell us they know what they want in their next president.
“Someone who is going to really help bring some life into this school,” said one student.
“Just represent us here in the community well,” said a faculty member.
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