Greetings, Buffalo State community. I hope the semester has had a peaceful and promising start for you all. As the Buffalo State University Council chair, I would like to provide you with an update on the presidential search process.
Recommending presidential candidates to the Chancellor and SUNY Board of Trustees is a major role of the University Council and requires engagement from a cross-section of campus community members. As chair of the University Council, I have been in contact with SUNY to begin the search process. The SUNY Guide to Presidential Searches at State-Operated Institutions requires the campus to hire a search firm to support the national recruitment of qualified candidates. Over the summer, we began the process of vetting and securing a firm and we will be able to announce our selection in the coming days.
Next Steps
In his additional capacity as secretary to the University Council, William Benfanti will assist me in managing the on-campus aspects of the search process and liaise with the SUNY Chancellor’s representative. In the coming weeks, I will constitute a search committee consistent with the committee makeup outlined in the SUNY guidelines, which includes broad representation from many campus constituencies.
As an integral part of that process, I have asked Kevin Williams, chair of the Buffalo State Senate, to work with the Schools to nominate full-time faculty members to serve on the committee, as prescribed by the SUNY guidelines. Other campus constituencies, including United Students Government, the Alumni Association Board and the Buffalo State College Foundation Board, will nominate potential committee members to me, as the University Council chair, and I will fill the remaining slots from those recommendations. Our goal is to recruit a group of individuals who represent the campus community to serve on this important body.
The university has established a website to provide information and updates regarding the search for the duration of the process. The website will contain information about the search, including timeline, listening sessions, campus surveys, search committee membership, the search ad and campus profile. Throughout the process, we will share updates to ensure transparency. The website will archive all announcements from the search committee.
As both the chair of the University Council and an alumna of Buffalo State, I look forward to this new and exciting chapter of our university’s history!
Sincerely,
Linda A. Dobmeier, ’71
Chair, Buffalo State University Council