The search process for the next University of Hartford president has officially launched, and feedback from students, faculty and staff have already begun to be gathered from the search committee.

It was announced in Nov. 2015 that current University president Walter Harrison would be retiring at the end of June 2017. A committee chaired by regent Kathy Behrens would begin the search process for the next UHart president.

Shelly Storbeck and Julia Patton of Storbeck/Pimentel Associates, a California-based executive search firm specializing in higher education executive recruitment for colleges and university, will support the search. The two were on campus March 7–8 to meet with the University community to get their feedback in several discussion sessions. There were two faculty sessions, one staff session and one student session. Participants were asked to reflect on their responses to what would interest someone in becoming president at UHart, the challenges they might face and what they would like to see developed over the next several years.

A staple of president Harrison has been his relationship with students and his presence on campus. Harrison has been involved with many student groups and has been a constant attendee to numerous campus events.

“It makes students feel like they’re not at a giant university where nobody knows them,” Student Government Association president TJ Hebert said. “They feel like they’re at a place where people actually care about them as a person.

“I think most people at this school feel that anybody can go to him,” Greek Life Interfraternity Council president Greg Maisch said. “He’s willing to come down to the lowest level to students and answer their problems and questions. He doesn’t have to do that. He’s very open and very transparent.”

Change is always something that brings mixed reactions because of the uncertainty of what will result from it. With big shoes to fill, the new University president may have to face the problem of living up to expectations.

“I think [the new president] would have to face the fact that they’re new and people are going to expect them not to change much,” Hebert said. “They’re going to have to deal with everyone saying, ‘Oh, well Walter went to everything. He went to The Hartt School, the Art School, sports games.’”

However, change is always welcome, especially when it comes to facility upgrades on campus. Hebert and Maisch both agreed that the overall look of the campus needs to be upgraded with better buildings and more housing.

Another thing they both mentioned was being able to engage the alumni on a better level.

“The new president needs to put a big emphasis on re-capturing the alumni,” Maisch said. “I don’t think we do the best job of keeping them involved on campus. People walk out of here in so much debt that they don’t want to give a dollar.”

As for Harrison himself, he reiterated much of what Hebert and Maisch said.

“I think it’s very important for the next person to have a good sense of community,” Harrison told The Informer last month. “This is a very small campus so it is important to have good, strong relationships with everyone on campus. Also, I think whoever succeeds me should be different. Change is good.”

Today our Board of Regents launched the search process for a new president. Read more about the search committee: https://t.co/5msB6wF0kC

— UHartfordNews (@UHartfordNews) February 26, 2016

At the end of Feb. 2016, Behrens announced that the search process was officially launched with the University Board of Regents approval of a 12-person committee made up of regents, alumni, faculty members, a staff member and a student.

The seven regents are: Behrens herself, member of the Board of Regents and a class of 1985 graduate of the College of Education, Nursing and Health Professions; Lucille Nickerson, chair of the Board of Regents; Dominic Fulco III, vice-chair of the Board of Regents and a College of Arts and Sciences class of 1981 graduate; Arnold West, vice-chair of the Board of Regents; Elsa Chin, member of the Board of Regents, a Hillyer College class of 2007 graduate and a College of Arts and Sciences class of 2009 graduate; Gary Masse, member of the Board of Regents and a College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture class of 1985 graduate; and Girish Rishi, a member of the Board of Regents and a Barney School of Business class of 1992 graduate.

The three faculty members are: Robert Black, professor of double bass at The Hartt School and The Hartt School class of 1979 graduate; Deborah Kidder, chair of the department of management, marketing and entrepreneurship, chair of the Faculty Senate, and a professor of management; and John Nordyke, professor of visual communication design.

The lone staff member is Charles Amerson, The Hartt School and College of Arts and Sciences class of 1996 graduate, master’s degree class of 1999 graduate, and current director of the Student Centers Association.

The student member is Yonina Bykov, a member of the class of 2017 in the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Education, Nursing, and Health Professions.

The Board will be hosting several town-hall-style meetings to continue to gain feedback as the search process progresses. They also encourages people to use the “Your Input” section on the University of Hartford website to send any thoughts, comments or concerns.