Kent State University Begins Search For Next President

By Kabir Bhatia

Published December 6, 2018 at 6:09 PM EST

Arch of Kent State University leading into campus. [Keith J Finks / Shutterstock]

Kent State’s Board of Trustees has officially kicked off its search for the university’s next president.

The trustees’ final meeting of 2018 was also the first meeting since Kent State President Beverly Warren announced she will step down next July. The board has selected a search firm – New York-based Russell Reynolds Associates -- and a chair for the committee, Trustee Shawn Riley.

Critics of the search in 2013 when Warren was selected have asked for the process to be more transparent this time. University spokesman Eric Mansfield says it’s up to the search committee to decide how to move forward, or whether they need to sign confidentiality agreements as they did five years ago.

“I don’t know that they’re going to, but I’m just saying that it’s not unusual for CEO-level searches to have confidentiality,” Mansfield said.

The members of the search committee will be announced next week. A website to collect public feedback will also go live this week.