(Radio Iowa) – The Board of Regents discussed the search for a new Iowa State University president during their meeting today (Tuesday) with a member of the Washington, D-C search firm they have hired. Rod Davis of A-G-B Search discussed a variety of topics, including finding someone outside the academic community. “So what the what the search committee has to do is to not kind of get closed in to only looking for people that have come to the academic ranks. And oftentimes we have to remind folks on the search committee that don’t focus on where people have been, but focus on the qualities that they’re going to bring to you,” Davis says. He says if there is a good profile of the candidate for the job, it will guide the search committee in finding the right person.

“Let me assure you there are many non traditional folks that are out there that we think have a skill set that could be helpful to institutions like Iowa State, but the search committee has to has to be willing to kind of, first of all, talk with those folks and move them forward,” he says. Davis says the key to a good search is following the plan they set up ahead of time. “Where I have seen searches go off the tracks, is when you at the end of the process and all of a sudden either someone on the search committee or someone on the board wants to introduce another set of criteria,” he says. “So that is to say that what was written is no longer the primary criteria.”

A-G-B will be paid a fee equal to 25 percent of the annual base salary contract for the first year of the new president, plus expenses. The Board of Regents has appointed a search committee to work with the search firm. The only other information discussed was that the names of the candidates will be kept confidential until the finalists are named. The search will replace current I-S-U President Wendy Wintersteen, who is retiring.