TO:         Members of the Carleton College Community

FROM:         Jack Eugster and Cathy Paglia, Co-Chairs, Presidential Search Committee

SUBJECT: Visit to the Campus by Final Presidential Candidates

As you know from previous reports of the presidential search committee, we have been moving with care and dispatch through the early stages of the search process. The final phase of our effort includes invitations to a small number of candidates to visit the Carleton campus and meet with selected groups of trustees, faculty, students, and staff. We have reached that point. Following three weeks of intense interviewing and background checking on a group of talented semi-finalists, the committee met on Sunday, March 28, to narrow the pool further. As a result, we have identified candidates we will invite for campus visits.  

Given the need to sustain confidentiality while simultaneously introducing the finalists to a broader spectrum of the campus community, we will be inviting a diverse but representative group of 75-100 members of the Carleton community, most of whom are in elected positions or fill leadership roles, to participate in these visits.  Throughout the search process, the committee has been pledged to protect the identity of candidates. Given the nature of candidate responsibilities elsewhere, we are obliged to sustain that confidentiality pledge through this final stage of the search and even after we have selected our next president. All members of the campus community participating in the campus visits will be asked to sign a confidentiality agreement, and our further inquiries about the candidates will continue to be handled with sensitivity and discretion.

The purposes of these campus visits are two-fold.  First, they will enable us to know the candidates better.  Second, and perhaps more importantly, the visits should provide an excellent opportunity for us to demonstrate the strengths and benefits that Carleton offers a potential new president. We have already had many conversations with individuals who have worked with the candidates and know them well. There is a strong consensus within the search committee that these candidates are very capable of providing effective presidential leadership for Carleton.  

We are pleased with the progress of the search and look forward to this final phase. Assuming that the campus visits go well, we expect to make a recommendation to the Carleton Board of Trustees before the end of April and a public announcement shortly thereafter.