Like UWF, Florida Gulf Coast University is looking for new president. Last month, their presidential search committee voted to accelerate the search timeline, moving the final selection from March 2017 to December of this year.
The Fort Myers News Press reported that the primary reason for the shorter timeline was the candidates prefer not to have their names exposed to public for long periods because it could cause issues with their current employers.
The FGCU position will be advertised from Sept. 6-Nov. 8. The Search Committee meets on Nov. 10 to review applications and select a group for onsite interviews.
A week later, from Nov. 17-20, the candidates selected for interviews meet with students and faculty and are interviewed by the search committee. A minimum of three finalists are recommended to the Board of Trustees.
On Dec. 9, the Board of Trustees interviews finalists and votes on new president.
The University of West Florida presidential search timeline is also accelerated.
On Aug. 16, the UWF Search Committee selected 19 applicants for interviews. Those one-hour interviews will be done Aug. 29-31. At the end, the committee recommends a minimum of three candidates.
Two weeks later, Sept. 12-14, the three finalists visit campus. On Sept. 15, the UWF Board of Trustees votes on the new president.
The difference in the two selection timelines is FGCU moves quickly through the process of cutting the applicants to three qualified finalists. The FGCU Board of Trustees has two weeks before they vote on the finalists.
At UWF, the final vote by the Board of Trustees is done within 24 hours of when the three finalists visit the campus .