Today, the UW System Board of Regents approved a resolution to streamline the hiring process by which the UW System president, chancellors, vice chancellors, and other UW System senior leaders are hired. Regent Vice President Drew Petersen made recommendations to the Board to revise Regent Policy 6-4, which relates to the UW System’s hiring and selection protocol. In addition to streamlining and expediting the hiring process, the updated policy also broadens applicant pools so leaders from the private sector may be considered as potential candidates, in addition to those with an academic background.
“Recruiting and selecting the leaders of our institutions is one of the most significant responsibilities we have,” said UW System President Ray Cross. “I appreciate the hard work done by the hiring workgroup to help streamline our process and also to help ensure that UW institutions, our students, and Wisconsin taxpayers get the fine leaders they deserve.”
“This Board has demonstrated a willingness to modernize our processes to reflect the evolving needs of the university and our state. We are leading the way in enacting meaningful and impactful reforms to reflect the changing dynamics of higher education, including attracting more non-traditional candidates to executive leadership positions,” said Regent President John Robert Behling. “We have a wonderful group of chancellors and system leaders. This policy update simply reflects the consensus that our current search and screen process is cumbersome.”
Vice President Petersen said, “The average amount of time to hire a new chancellor from the announcement of their resignation or retirement to naming a replacement is about nine months. That is simply too long as we want our campuses to continue to run smoothly during this type of transition. The changes we are making to our hiring process will make us more efficient and effective in attracting the next generation of university leaders for the UW System. They also send a powerful message of accountability and responsiveness to our stakeholders, including the legislature and the Governor.”
On August 7, 2017, President Behling announced the creation of the hiring workgroup. Resolution 4 outlines the policy changes and rationale the workgroup recommended in today’s Agenda and Materials document online.