Wvgatette.com April 18, 2012 WVSU narrows presidential search to three By Amy Julia Harris Three candidates from outside West Virginia are on the shortlist for the top job at West Virginia State University. After a four-month national search, members of the WVSU presidential search committee whittled down the candidates to Brian O'Harold Hemphill, vice president for student affairs at Northern Illinois University, Alicia L. Jackson, dean of the school of business at Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania, and Donna H. Oliver, president of Mississippi Valley State University. "It's been a long process and this is an excellent array of candidates," said Larry Rowe, chairman of West Virginia State's Board of Governors. "I am very pleased with the level of education and experience of the final candidates and especially their enthusiasm for the university's mission." The 15-member presidential search advisory committee -- comprising faculty, staff, students, business leaders and Board of Governors members -- formed in January to find a replacement for longtime university President Hazo Carter, who will step down June 30. Carter announced in August that he would resign in June, one week after he received a vote of no confidence from the university's Faculty Senate. Many faculty members blamed Carter for West Virginia State's steep enrollment decline, for bungling community relations and fundraising, and steering the Institute-based school into a $3.5 million budget deficit. He will continue to collect his full $167,444-a-year salary until 2014. University officials paid Greenwood/Asher & Associates, a Florida-based consulting firm that specializes in filling presidential vacancies, more than $60,000 to assist in the national search. Brian Hemphill has been vice president for student affairs and enrollment at Northern Illinois University since August 2004, where he oversees a $91 million budget. He has helped push for construction of a $20 million student housing project for students with dependents and an $80 million dorm for freshmen. Before arriving at Northern Illinois, Hemphill served in varying capacities in the dean of students' offices at the University of Arkansas, University of North Carolina-Wilmington and Cornell College in Iowa. Alicia Jackson became dean of the Sigmund Weis School of Business at Susquehanna University in July 2007. Prior to her appointment at Susquehanna, Jackson served as dean of the College of Business and Information Science at Tuskegee University in Alabama, an independent, historically black university. As dean, she led the effort to attain full accreditation status from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business and advocated for a holistic approach to higher education. Donna Oliver is the sixth president and first woman to lead Mississippi Valley State University, and the first black woman to lead a Mississippi public university. She stepped into the position in 2009 and helped launch the college's five-year strategic plan that includes a program for at-risk men and a fast-track adult degree completion program in organizational management. She also helped the school get a $9.2 million legislative bond. Rowe said the three candidates would visit campus next week to meet with students, faculty, the Board of Governors and community members. Oliver will visit on Monday, Jackson on Tuesday and Hemphill on Friday. The Board of Governors hopes to name a new president within the month. State's new president will inherit a grim financial picture and tight budget when he or she assumes the post in July. The university was teetering on the brink of financial failure just months ago, as WVSU's board grappled to plug a multimillion-dollar budget hole spurred by plummeting student enrollment, a split with the school's community and technical college, and what the Higher Education Policy Commission called a campus-wide lack of "financial discipline." The board slashed about $2 million from the university's budget this year, instituted a campus-wide hiring freeze, and forced the finance department to approve any purchases greater than $1,000. Rowe said West Virginia State expects to round out the fiscal year, which ends June 30, with a budget surplus of about $570,000. The school also will increase its tuition and fees by 8 percent next year to help balance the budget. State began in 1891 as the West Virginia Colored Institute and was created with the intention of serving the black community in the heart of Appalachia. Reach Amy Julia Harris at 304-348-4814. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-520-0593 Skype:sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children. Register now http://www.hbculibraries.org/html/2012meeting-form.html for the October 21-23, 2012 HBCU Library Alliance 5th Membership Meeting and the Photographic Preservation Pre-Conference in New Orleans, LA. The Pre-Conference and Membership meeting are open to directors and other librarians.