HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Five finalists to become Marshall University’s 38th president have been named by the university’s Board of Governors.
The presidential search committee presented the list of recommended finalists during a public meeting of the board’s executive committee. The finalists will be invited for campus visits as one of the final steps in choosing the person to replace current President Jerome Gilbert, who is leaving July 2022.
Board of Governors Chairman Patrick Farrell said that there were 107 applicants to the position that were reviewed beginning on Labor Day.
“Marshall has an excellent reputation and our presidency is an attractive position,” Farrell said in a release. “The response was even greater than we perhaps anticipated and we are thrilled with the quality of the pool. Forty nominations were submitted directly to the presidential search website. In addition, our search firm received a large number of nominations and identified a broad base of prospective candidates nationally and internationally.
“After a great deal of deliberation, the search committee narrowed the field and conducted face-to-face interviews with an extraordinarily diverse pool of 16 semi-finalists. From those interviews, we selected the five finalists announced today. I look forward to welcoming them to campus in a couple of weeks.”
The presidential finalists are, in alphabetical order: Bernard Arulanandam, vice president for research, economic development, and knowledge enterprise, The University of Texas at San Antonio; Bret Danilowicz, provost and vice president for academic affairs, Florida Atlantic University; Robyn Hannigan, provost, Clarkson University; Kathy Johnson, executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI); and Brad D. Smith, co-founder, Wing 2 Wing Foundation.
Each finalist will visit the Huntington and South Charleston campuses from Oct. 11-19 to meet with members of the university community. The schedule of candidate visits is as follows:
Dr. Robyn Hannigan: Oct. 11-12
Mr. Brad D. Smith: Oct. 12-13
Dr. Kathy Johnson: Oct. 13-14
Dr. Bernard Arulanandam: Oct. 14-15
Dr. Bret Danilowicz: Oct. 18-19