ETSU President Candidate Pool Narrowed to 3

The search advisory committee for a new president of East Tennessee State University narrowed the candidate pool to three finalists after wrapping up interviews with the eight round-one candidates today.

The three finalists will visit the ETSU campus next week to meet with a variety of university constituent groups, including faculty and staff, students and the community.

They are

• Robert Frank, provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs at Kent State University;
• Brian Noland, chancellor at the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission; and
• Sandra Patterson-Randles, president of Indiana University Southeast.

The series of campus meetings will take place at the D.P. Culp University Center next week. Open receptions for community members, alumni and friends of the university will be scheduled at the Holiday Inn in Johnson City. A detailed schedule will be posted at www.tbr.edu once visit arrangements have been made. All of the campus forums will be streamed live through a link available at that website as well.

Members of the search committee will participate in the campus meetings and gather feedback from constituents. Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor John Morgan will take input from the committee members and make the final recommendation for the next president to the Board of Regents for approval within the next few weeks.

The Tennessee Board of Regents is the nation’s sixth largest higher education system, governing 46 post-secondary educational institutions. The TBR system includes six universities, 13 two-year colleges and 27 technology centers, providing programs in 90 of Tennessee’s 95 counties to more than 200,000 students.