The WKU Presidential Search Committee met on Wednesday afternoon to discuss a number of topics concerning the current process of finding the university’s next president.

One of which was the position profile that the committee will be giving to Isaacson, Miller search firm who is working with the university in the search.

Search Committee Chair Phillip Bale said that he had previously talked with the search firm and they would like to have the position profile by “no later than the middle part of August.”

“We are not going to be taking any action today on anything,” Bale said. “We are meeting today because it is nice to meet face to face and we do want to move toward having this position profile tidied up within the next two to three weeks, because by mid-August Isaacson, Miller will be able to start advertising with the final product of a position profile.”

Staff Regent Tamela Smith had made additions to the profile before the meeting which Bale said were “much needed and very well stated.”

“In my conversation with Michael from Isaacson, Miller, they apparently had a hard time finding some of the staff,” Smith said. “They didn’t know where to go on the website to find anything and so really the staff was omitted from the original profile.”

Besides the insertion of the staff, there were only minor details and revisions made to the position profile as Committee Support Julia McDonald said that there are “just a lot of updates, more so, than anything.”

“I think we are nearing the time that they (Isaacson, Miller) can settle on a position profile that they can make public and put out in front of any potential applicants or nominees,” Bale said.

Also, the committee discussed the survey questionnaire which will soon be made available to the public. The questionnaire will consist of two questions which will directly relate to the presidential search and topics concerning campus.

“I think it provides a nice tool that anybody who looks at it makes them think about what the challenges and opportunities are, and it gives them some degree of ownership,” Bale said. “We are certainly doing this because we do want people’s input.”

McDonald said that the survey will be available through “emails to constituent groups, the alumni database, our presidential search webpage and on the main WKU webpage.”

The committee also discussed Isaacson, Miller’s campus visit which will be Monday, August 29. The search firm is scheduled to hold an open forum on campus in which anyone can attend.

“There has been some discussion on how their time would best be spent,” Bale said. “We had even talked about possibly having more forums with individual groups. This is Isaacson, Miller’s show. It is not our show. This is for them to come and do their ground work.”

Isaacson, Miller is scheduled to meet with the SGA Executive Cabinet at 1:30 p.m. and the University Senate Executive Search Committee at 3:00 p.m. on August 29.

The search committee also said that SGA President Jay Todd Richey could allow students not on the SGA Executive Cabinet to attend the search firm’s meeting with the cabinet.

“It is excellent that they are meeting with students and with the executive council,” Richey said.”

The committee also announced that there will be Presidential Search Briefings with the WKU Alumni Association Board on July 22, the WKU Foundation Board on July 29 and the College Heights Foundation Board on August 4.

All meetings will be at the Augenstein Alumni Center.

The committee’s next scheduled meetings are on September 30, November 11, December 1 and December 2.

“Our goal is, and will remain to be, finding the very best that we can to fill this job,” Bale said at the end of the meeting. “None of us want to do anything to jeopardize that. We all know that this is a position for which there is much interest.”