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To: "Members of the University Community"

From: "Dean David C. Johnsen"

Subject: Presidential Search Update

Dear Colleagues:

Thanks to all who have communicated with me about the search for a new
President of The University of Iowa. (Special thanks to colleagues at
our College of Dentistry for encouragement and many offers
of support!) The deluge of comments and questions from across campus
makes it clear that you care deeply about our University and that you
want to find an outstanding President. Your comments so far have been
overwhelmingly encouraging with the two most common themes being "How
can I help?" and "Let's find a way to move forward."

This e-mail is the first in an ongoing effort to keep you up to
date. This must be a reciprocal information-sharing process. If you
have questions, concerns or suggestions, please contact me via email
(mailto:david-johnsen@uiowa.edu).

Here are some of the most recent details:

-- Our goal is to have a President named by July 1, 2007 ­ an
ambitious timetable. We will be as open as possible regarding the
search process but will maintain the confidentiality of individual
candidates in order to assure the strongest pool. I will personally
report at each Board of Regents meeting and share those reports with you.

-- On Thursday, January 11, our Regents will act on the nominations of
five initial members of our Presidential Search Committee. The
nominees are Professor Jonathan Carlson, College of Law; Professor Lee
Anna Clark, Department of Psychology and College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences; Leonard Hadley, retired Chairman and CEO, Maytag
Corporation; Dean Linda Maxson, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences;
and Professor Paul Rothman, DEO, Department of Internal Medicine,
Carver College of Medicine.  This group will make recommendations to
our Regents for completing the membership of the search committee,
which will be about 12 people.

-- We welcome your nominations to complete the search committee. We
seek people who can represent our major constituencies and who are
able to articulate the issues facing the greater University. We think
this combination will be essential to recruit and to evaluate
candidates. Many of you have already made excellent nominations. We
will consider those as well as others we receive following this e-mail.

-- Once formed, our search committee will move quickly to meet with
campus constituencies. Because many of you have good connections with
top universities, we urgently request that you share the names of
potential candidates! We also welcome your input on issues that the
University and its new President must deal with, the messages that
will attract the best candidates, and the process for evaluating the candidates.

-- Although the job description for the President remains the same as
it was in the previous search, questions have arisen about the
characteristics and attributes we seek in our next President. There
appears to be a consensus that the main job will be to lead our
University in a way that serves Iowa and also exceeds the standards of
the Big Ten Conference in education, research and service, especially
in patient care. You have also made it clear that we need a President
with the ability to 1) lead the process of strategic planning and
agenda-setting, 2) hire and retain top people, and 3) manage our
current resources and help us increase those resources. To do all of
that, we will look for someone with research university experience,
especially in team building and in engaging the greater University
community and beyond.

-- Our search committee will have wide latitude in developing its
slate of candidates. We have been asked to provide the names of four
highly qualified candidates from which our Regents will make a final
selection. I have been assured that our Regents recognize there is
fierce competition for the best candidates. They are prepared to offer
the right candidate a salary that is commensurate with our
University’s $2.3 billion annual budget and its standing as a Top 25
public university.

-- Our search committee has also been given the latitude to decide
whether to hold on-campus interviews for finalists. There are
compelling reasons to do so, including the opportunity for you to meet
the finalists face-to-face and the opportunity for the next President
to begin bonding with our community. If the top candidates all agree
to appear on campus, this becomes a moot point. However, what if the
top candidates decline to appear on campus and those candidates are
clearly superior to the next tier of candidates? Then the search
committee could be faced with the dilemma of changing our tradition or
considering less-qualified candidates. We expect this matter to be
actively discussed as we proceed, and we seek your input!

There is a lot at stake, but every reason to be optimistic. We are
already hearing from potential candidates that the position of UI
President remains highly attractive because of our quality and because
of the challenge and opportunity of serving as a Big Ten Conference
President. The search committee calls on your help and advice so that
we can achieve our shared goal of hiring an outstanding President.

Thank you.

David Johnsen
Presidential Search Committee Chair