Nine UI presidency candidates converge on Chicago

Nine candidates in the running to become the next University of Iowa president will be in the Chicago area Tuesday and Wednesday for 'airport interviews” in a hotel next to O'Hare International Airport.

A 21-member search committee - along with officials from Parker Executive Search, the company hired to facilitate the hunt - will meet at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Rosemont, Ill., at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to UI officials.

The search company will lead the committee through an orientation session before starting interviews. Once they begin, interviews will be held in closed session, according to the portion of Iowa Code allowing government bodies to meet in private when evaluating an individual's appointment, hiring, performance or discharge 'to prevent needless and irreparable injury to that individual's reputation.”

That portion of the law also requires individuals to request the closed session, and Parker Executive Search President Laurie Wilder repeatedly has warned the UI search committee that confidentiality is a real concern for some of the candidates who are gainfully employed.

The airport interviews are expected to continue Wednesday, beginning at 7:15 a.m. The committee is scheduled for discussion - also in closed session - following the interviews.

The university is covering travel and associated expenses for the candidates.

The Board of Regents will pay Atlanta-based Parker $200,000 to help in the search.

Of the nine candidates, the committee will choose three or four to bring to the Iowa City campus to introduce publicly Aug. 31 through Sept. 3. The finalists will meet with the Board of Regents Sept. 4, and Board President Bruce Rastetter has said he expects to announce a new president soon after.

Details about when the new president might start and his or her salary will be part of negotiations.

Former UI President Sally Mason in January announced plans to retire July 31 after eight years at the helm. Jean Robillard, vice president of medical affairs for UI Health Care, is serving as interim UI president and also head of the search committee for Mason's replacement.

Robillard has said he's not interested in becoming the next UI president.

Names of possible candidates that emerged earlier in the search process through public nomination include Garnett S. Stokes, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Missouri; Daniel Jones, outgoing chancellor at the University of Mississippi; Scott L. Waugh, executive vice chancellor and provost of the University of California, Los Angeles; Paul N. Courant, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, university librarian and dean of libraries at the University of Michigan; Salome Raheim, dean of the University of Connecticut School of Social Work; Sally McRorie, interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs with Florida State University; and Santa J. Ono, University of Cincinnati president.

Names of the nine candidates being interviewed this week have not been made public, and just because someone was nominated doesn't mean they applied or are interested in the position.