On behalf of the Presidential Search Committee (PSC), the Board of Regents is sharing updates regarding the search for Memorial University’s next president and vice-chancellor.

These updates are based on the PSC’s most recent meeting. The committee comprises faculty, students, regents, staff and community representatives.

Aug. 22 meeting

On Aug. 22, the PSC met to consider the search timeline and the engagement process for community consultations.

At that meeting it was decided that community consultations will begin as soon as possible and continue through September.

The consultations will offer extensive opportunities for community engagement in this important hiring process — possibly the most extensive engagement process Memorial has conducted for a presidential search.

Memorial community members will be invited to participate through surveys, targeted group sessions, one-on-one meetings and town halls that can be accessed both online and in person.

Specific consultations will be held on Memorial’s campuses: Labrador Campus, Grenfell Campus, the Marine Institute and the St. John’s campus.

There will also be a public town hall and survey to enable the PSC to hear directly from communities in Newfoundland and Labrador who are so invested in the success of Memorial University.

While a draft timeline for all events has been approved and the committee hopes to conclude the process during the winter 2025 semester, specific dates and times for events are still to be confirmed.

More information will be shared on the PSC website as it becomes available.

Develop a profile

Once consultations conclude, the PSC will review the feedback to develop a position profile.

Once the profile is developed, the PSC will advertise the position widely.

The PSC will then select candidates fo initial interviews and, from there, develop a shortlist of final candidates.

The committee continues to gather information on the best practices regarding open or hybrid searches for discussion at an upcoming meeting and anticipates coming to a final decision during the fall 2024 semester.

With respect to timelines and processes, the PSC has received and considered the advice of the search firm contracted to support the committee for this search (Perrett Laver), while maintaining a clear view that decision-making power for all aspects of the process belongs to the PSC.

The PSC is looking forward to hearing from all community members as it develops the selection criteria to assess candidates for the next president of Memorial University.