The search for Witt’s next president has been narrowed down to two final female candidates, which means that for the first time in Wittenberg history, a female will be president of the university.
President Erickson made the announcement last May that he will step down at the conclusion of the 2011-2012 academic year, allowing plenty of time for university’s Board of Directors to conduct a national search for the next president as well as ensure that momentum at the university continues.
Since then, the search committee has been working to select the best possible candidate for the position. “I think that the Wittenberg community is very excited about the prospect of its first female president,” said Christopher Duncan, Provost for the University. “I will say that both candidates who visited are highly accomplished women with extensive experience as both faculty members and academic administrators.”
Undoubtedly, students are also looking forward to welcoming a female president to campus.
“Our largest student leadership positions on campus are held by women. The Student Senate president and vice president, Union Board Co-presidents, CBS president are all women, so there are a lot of women in leadership positions on this campus,” said Hanna Franck-Larsson, president of WIP, Women In Power at Wittenberg University. “But it is not about whether a woman or a man would be better for Wittenberg, but which person would be best.”
Both candidates only recently left campus and now the search committee will go into a process of discernment.
“I am very hopeful that we will have a positive outcome, but there are a lot of variables in play in a process like this so at this point we just need to have faith in the search process and see what happens,” said Provost Duncan.
(Shelly Gregory / s13.mgregory@wittenberg.edu)
Is Wittenberg in danger of becoming a finishing school for girls? According to US News, Wittenberg’s student body is 44% male and 55% female. That’s a large difference. The most popular major for graduates in 2010 was “Social Sciences”. Is this the direction the school really wants to go?
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/wittenberg-university-3143