UWM Chancellor Committee Meets Ahead of Name Release

The search and screen committee for the new UWM chancellor met Tuesday at 1 p.m. in the Union’s Fireside Lounge to discuss the five remaining candidates vying for the position of chancellor. On the eve of the finalist announcement, the committee spent the entire meeting in closed session.

The names – until Wednesday morning – are a closely guarded secret.

“The committee just presented five finalists to the Regent select committee,” said Don Mash, the Executive Senior Special Assistant to the UW-System’s President’s Office.

According to Mark Schwartz, the chair of the Search and Screen Committee, the process initially began with 38 candidates and has since been narrowed down to the current five candidates to be announced tomorrow.

“There has been excellent input, analysis, and involvement; and I expect that to continue over the next few weeks as we bring finalist candidates in for a visit to the campus,” said Ray Cross, the UW-System president.

Cross was not specific about what the committee has been looking for in the candidates. However, he said he believes the characteristics they are looking for are obvious traits anyone would look for in a leader.

In regards to what the committee is looking for in the candidates, Mash echoed Cross saying, “Leadership, in a word.”

“Those things have been identified and have been evaluated by the search committee and have been evaluated in this process, and now we’ll get to see that in a broader sense and spend more time with them,” said Cross.

The committee will announce the five candidates deliberated upon tomorrow, with the final decision coming sometime in December.

“I think we’re on time for the release,” said Cross. “We’ll have to work more on that process, but I think so.”

The search for UWM’s new chancellor began last spring after former Chancellor Mike Lovell resigned in order to take a position across town as Marquette University’s president.

Since Lovell’s departure, a professor of management in the Lubar School of Business, Mark Mone, has taken over the helm as Interim Chancellor.