BGSU's top job gets applicants

12/6/2008

BOWLING GREEN - Bowling Green State University has received "a pretty solid" number of applicants interested in becoming the institution's next president, the chairman of the search committee said yesterday.

"It's not huge, but not small," said Bill Primrose, who is a BGSU trustee. "But the applicants we're getting are well-qualified."

He did not have an overall number. According to the university's institutional and leadership profile, applicants have until Dec. 15 to submit materials.

Mr. Primrose gave the update on the search during the Board of Trustees meeting and said he "fully expects to have a new president here on campus by summer 2009."

The search committee will review the applications next month, conduct airport interviews by February, and bring finalists to campus by early March, Mr. Primrose said.

The university is using the search firm Witt/Kieffer.

The trustees also approved the merger of two programs to become a new department. The environmental health program will merge with the environmental studies program to become the department of environment and sustainability in the college of arts and sciences.

The move will make the academic unit more robust and will save money, the university said.