Florida Tech presidential search heats up as students get involved

Months after former President T. Dwayne McCay’s resignation, Florida Tech has started to ramp up the search process for its new president, and students have a chance to get involved. 

Throughout the month of September, Florida Tech has hosted several listening sessions where students could share their thoughts about what they want from the next president.

Travis Proctor, Board of Trustees member and head of the search committee, said input provided in these sessions will be used in the search.

“The search firm will then take all that together, identify what are the common themes they've heard from everyone, and that will come back to the board in a formal request,” Proctor said. 

For the search process, Florida Tech has partnered with AGB Search, a highly rated search firm. They will help narrow down candidates based on findings from these listening sessions and input from the advisory committee. 

While students will not get to vote for the new president directly, Proctor said that he wants the students to be involved as much as possible.

“It’s important for the board and the search committee to ensure that there’s transparency, and that it’s a public process,”  Proctor said. 

In addition to the search committee, which doesn’t have any student members, there will also be a search advisory committee. The advisory committee will have three students representing the student body. 

According to Proctor, those on the advisory committee will have a more direct impact on the selection process.

“They’ll have the opportunity to review, for example, the job description, the leadership profile, as we come up with a final draft,” Proctor said.

One of the three students on the advisory committee, Carolynne Garutti, who is also the SGA president, expressed the qualities that are important for her in the next president. 

“I like that what the students are really wanting is aligning with what I was really looking for, which is a lot of transparency,” Garutti said.

Garutti said that she thinks that student input is valuable, and that she is glad that students are able to get involved in the search process. 

“It’s very rare that, I feel, that the Board of Trustees, or any university in  a presidential search, takes the time to say that we want to hear from our students,” Garutti said.

Garutti said it’s her goal to ensure that student’s voices are heard as much as possible.

“Especially with this presidential search I've talked to a lot of people and I want people to reach out to me and talk to me about what they want,'' Garutti said.

Once the final few candidates have been chosen, Proctor said students will also be able to interact with them directly. 

“Those finalists will be invited to campus and there will be a series of interviews and also open sessions then so that people will have an opportunity to come and meet those finalists and provide input,” Proctor said. 

According to Florida Tech’s presidential search website, that is not expected to happen until December and into March. 

While the time frame is subject to change, Proctor said that the committee hopes to have the new president starting by Summer 2023. In the meantime, students and the campus community can participate in the listening sessions hosted by Florida Tech.