West Liberty University has announced four finalists in its search for a new president.
The applicants were winnowed from 59 original applications following video conference interviews with the university’s search committee and advice from professional consultants from AGB Search.
The three men and one woman named as finalists now will visit campus and follow an agenda that includes dinner, campus tours and interviews with faculty, staff, students and others.
“I am pleased to announce that we have four strong candidates for the next president of West Liberty University. The search committee looks forward to introducing these leaders to our campus community and to the public as we begin the final steps in the extensive process of finding a president,” said Thomas Cervone, chairman of the search committee, an active alumnus and member of the Board of Governors.
The university’s previous president, W. Franklin Evans, left that role after his contract was not extended last year. Evans, the university’s first Black president, served two years. His tenure was marked by controversy over plagiarism allegations.
Dr. Cathy Monteroso is the interim president of West Liberty, which is in the Wheeling area, and will remain in that role throughout the ongoing search.
After the presidential candidates visit campus and meet with alumni, staff, students, faculty and the public, the search committee will reconvene and evaluate the campus interviews with the assistance of AGB Search.
The committee then presents its final recommendations to the Board of Governors, which makes the final selection and forwards the name to the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission for approval.
West Liberty hopes to have a president on board sometime in late spring, with an expected date of contract to begin July 1.
The search committee includes all members of the Board of Governors plus two additional faculty representatives, one dean, three additional staff members, two WLU Foundation members (also alumni). Also serving as a non-voting, ex-officio member is Dr. Sarah Tucker, chancellor of the Higher Education Policy Commission.
The presidential candidates include:
Dr. Tim Borchers, who has 18 years of higher education administrative experience and is currently vice president for Academic Affairs at Peru State College (Neb.), the oldest college in the state with an enrollment of about 2,000.
He is the author of the book “Persuasion in the Media Age,” which is in its fourth edition and co-author of “Rhetorical Theory: An Introduction,” now in its second edition. Borchers visits campus April 19 – 21.
Dr. David Christiansen, who serves as the chancellor of Penn State York, a position he began on August 1, 2018. He joined Penn State in 2004 as a senior associate dean for Academic Affairs at Penn State Erie.
His primary research interest revolves around late Republican/early imperial Latin historians. He is particularly interested in strategies by which Latin historians utilized identity, rhetoric and imagery when writing about the past to comment on contemporary events. Christiansen visits campus April 25 – 27.
Dr. Kelly Ryan, who became interim chancellor of Indiana University Southeast in July 2022, becoming the eighth chancellor and fourth woman chancellor to serve the campus.
Ryan has published widely in the field of Early American history, and has authored two books: “Everyday Crimes: Social Violence” and “Civil Rights in Early America.” She has also lent her expertise on colonial America to The Learning Channel’s popular genealogy program, “Who Do You Think You Are?” Ryan visits campus April 16 – April 18.
Dr. Robert T. Smith, who is provost and vice president for Academic Affairs and mathematics professor at Valdosta State University (Ga.), leading a team of more than 500 faculty and staff, providing undergraduate through doctoral degree programs that enroll more than 10,000 students.
Smith’s research is in mathematical problems arising in engineering and physics; he is also the co-author of 10 textbooks on calculus, several of which have been translated into multiple languages and which are in use around the world. Smith visits April 23 – April 25.