Interim UM System President Mike Middleton announced a nationwide search for MU’s next chancellor in an email to the MU community on Monday.
Middleton said in the email that the search is in consultation with UM System President-designate Mun Choi.
“Dr. Choi has made it clear that establishing permanent leadership at MU is an early priority of his presidency,” Middleton said in a statement. “Today we will begin the process of selecting the next great leader of MU by launching a national search which is the customary approach for a prestigious public, land-grant AAU institution.”
Middleton said in his email the first step of the search will be to create a search committee and timeline of the search process after consulting with campus officials.
“The process will include an opportunity for MU stakeholders’ voices to be heard,” Middleton said in the email.
Isaacson, Miller search firm has been hired to assist in the search, according to a statement from the UM System. Isaacson, Miller also assisted in the UM System presidential search.
Choi said in the UM System statement that a national search “befits MU’s status as one of the nation’s top public universities.”
Interim Chancellor Hank Foley said in a statement that he hopes to continue to serve as the permanent chancellor, but understands and supports Middleton and Choi’s decision to create a national search.
“I look forward to participating in the process,” Foley said in the statement.
Foley has served as interim chancellor since November 2015, after former Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin resigned.
Loftin resigned following faculty and student discontent over his handling of a series of campus issues, racial tension on campus and graduate student housing, childcare and health care.
_Edited by Nancy Coleman | ncoleman@themaneater.com_