Since the resignation of Chancellor Doug Kristenson last spring, the University of Nebraska system has been searching for a new UNK chancellor. UNK has hired the CarterBaldwin Executive Search company to help find candidates. UNK held several listening sessions so the company could better know what they were looking for.
Over the two days, meetings were held with UNK faculty, deans, vice chancellors, students and the general public.
“This listening session is where we all shut up and let you (students) talk,” said David Jackson, the executive vice president of the University of Nebraska system. “We want you to be 100% honest, critical and frank with us.”
According to Andrea Smith, a partner in CarterBaldwin Executive Search, listening sessions like this one are the first of many steps in narrowing the list of candidates down to just a few.
Smith said that after narrowing down the potential candidates, they are hoping to have them start directly interacting with the UNK public by next spring. Until then, all candidates are being kept anonymous to avoid the job search creating problems within their current jobs.
The student-focused meeting had Smith asking questions about what students currently liked about the school, what they didn’t like, what traits they would like to see in a chancellor and what things they should avoid.
While responding, the attending students asked for improvements with more buildings on the west side of campus, modernizing the buildings on the east side of campus and improving parking lots. There was also a focus on the new chancellor promoting events better and doing more to support the UNK sports teams.
One of the topics that students brought up was the communication between students and administration during the budget cuts last spring.
“When these most recent budget cuts were happening, there were constant meetings,” said Isaac Haselhorst, junior exercise science major. “Students had the opportunity to engage in those and have their voices heard about where they think the budget cuts should go.”
Another thing students brought up was how they didn’t want the new chancellor to disturb the “small town” feeling of UNK.
“I think that it’s a small enough but also big enough school to where you know a lot of people that you see just going from class to class,” said Beth Grant, junior political science major. “There are multiple classes where I know everyone’s name, and I think that is very beneficial, so when you walk by and see someone on campus later it’s not hard to say ‘hi.’”
