UVM has finished interviewing candidates for its new president and expects to announce a final candidate in mid-February, said Ron Lumbra, co-chair of the presidential search committee, in an interview with the Cynic.
The University is nearing the end of a monthslong search for its new president after Suresh Garimella announced in Sept. 2024 that he was leaving UVM for a new position as president of the University of Arizona.
“I would anticipate that within the next couple of weeks, we’ll be able to come into the community with more tangible information on exactly where things stand as we get through additional steps in the process,” Lumbra said at a Jan. 31 board of trustees meeting.
Lumbra did not confirm whether or not Interim President Patricia Prelock was among the candidates.
“We’ve had some internal candidates who have raised their hand and expressed interest,” he explained to a Cynic reporter. “They are getting full, fair and equal consideration along with external candidates.”
Lumbra did not provide a specific number of candidates being interviewed, but said there were more candidates than the search committee expected.
Most of the candidates come from public universities, but a few have experience at private institutions, Lumbra said.
The board is looking for someone who works well with students, faculty and staff, as well as someone compatible with the Burlington and greater Vermont communities, Lumbra said.
“We want someone who will really encourage and embrace the community,” he said.
The Jan. 27-Feb. 1 board meeting schedule included a series of executive sessions at the Hilton DoubleTree and the UVM Alumni House, which Lumbra confirmed were being used for presidential search interviews. Thomas Borchert, president of the UVM faculty senate, said the candidates interviewed remotely.
“[The committee] had Zoom interviews with more than 15 but less than 20 candidates, I don’t know exactly how many,” Borchert said.
The President is hired by the board of trustees, yet each UVM college and school is involved through the election of a number of representatives, Borchert said. That elected panel then chose four members from amongst themselves to be part of the search committee.
After those interviews, the search committee deliberated and sent a list of three to five candidates to the board of trustees, who will then vet those last candidates and conduct final interviews, Borchert said. Finally, the board will make an offer and bring someone to campus as the finalist.
“I have been encouraging [the board of trustees] to communicate with the campus at large and that’s been my formal role in this, as a facilitator and a communicator,” said Borchert.
Borchert feels the search committee seems like a good group of people who care about the work of the University, he said.
“There is a subset of the faculty that is cynical about anything the administration does and that’s not unreasonable,” Borchert said. “My hope is that we come out of this feeling okay collectively about the process and excited about the candidate, but I guess we can say in a month or so.”
