The work of our search for UK’s 12th President is beginning to ramp up.

This week, the search committee met for more than three hours to review nominations and applications for the presidency. Everyone is impressed by the depth and quality of the pool of candidates. Our consultants, Greenwood/Asher, have made contacts with nearly 460 people, including presidents of large and regional universities, provosts, deans and governmental and corporate leaders. Some 110 people have been formally nominated.

They tell us that the progress this institution has made under President Todd’s leadership during the last 10 years makes UK an attractive place to lead. Our ambitious goal to become a Top 20 research institution – and the state mandate behind it – also is an attractive lure for many candidates.

We asked the consultants to go back and gather information on a number of candidates that we are interested in taking a deeper look at over the next few weeks. Our plan, in keeping with our timeline, is to begin conducting interviews with candidates in the next several weeks, with the goal of extending an offer to our next president by May 1.

To that end, I also was very pleased with the process our Board of Trustees has agreed to in ensuring that we protect the privacy of these candidates for as long as possible, while committing to a campus visit with a finalist or finalists prior to a final decision. Such a process, I believe, will help maintain a strong pool of candidates and will give our campus the appropriate assurance that a prospective president will visit students, faculty and staff before taking the helm.