A day after students, faculty and staff gathered for separate forums in Stewart Theatre to discuss the qualities they would like for the new chancellor to possess, the search committee that will select candidates met in the Park Alumni Building to evaluate the findings from the discussions.

Members cited a division among forum attendees over whether candidates should have an academic background and determined that graduate school degrees would be preferred, but not necessary for a candidate to be considered for the position.

Wendell Murphy said he was not under the impression that an effective chancellor needed to come from the field of academia. He said it was more important to hire an effective provost to head academics.

“He needs to be able to find the right provost for the job,” Murphy said, adding interim Provost Warwick Arden could be a candidate for the permanent provost position. “We might have him already, we might not.”

Staff Senate Chairman Steve Carlton said it would be difficult to find a candidate that fit all of the qualifications outlined at the forums, but said it would be possible to find one that could fit the needs of the University.

“There’s not going to be a perfect person,” Carlton said. “We’re going to have to choose the best fit.”

Board of Trustees Second Vice Chair Barbara Mulkey said she was impressed with the comments students voiced at their forum.

“I’m overwhelmed by the maturity of the students,” Mulkey said. “Especially compared to me at that age.”

The students’ concerns were valid, she said.

“Yes, many [of the suggestions] were idealistic, but I was impressed with how serious they were taking it,” Mulkey said.

Still, she said one thing shocked her.

“I was very surprised we didn’t hear more about athletics,” she said.

Student Body President Jim Ceresnak said he thought students likely considered the pursuit of athletic excellence as one of the requirements they wanted in a chancellor. He was glad, he said, that other qualities were major concerns for the student body — among them most importantly being visibility. Students said they wanted a visionary leader, someone who “would bring us to the next step and bring us to the top,” he said

While students may not have voiced their concerns about athletics during the forum, President of the Graduate Student Association Ali Kefeli said that did not mean they were not finding other ways to let the committee know they cared about the University’s sports teams. He said that among the feedback he has received online, the two words that have come up the most have been leadership and morals followed by athletics.

“Let’s not think students don’t care about athletics,” Kefeli said.

The turnout at the forum was also impressive, said Jerry Baker of Baker and Associates LLC, the executive firm the University selected to help facilitate the chancellor search. Baker said the student turnout was the largest for any provost or chancellor search that he had ever been a part of.

“People were very impressed with the [student] turnout,” Ceresnak said after the committee meeting. “It’s the largest they’ve ever seen at any searches and Mr. Baker has done about 500 academic chancellor or provost searches so that carries a lot of weight.”

Ceresnak said the committee is dedicated to allowing student input into the process and recognizes the student body is an integral part of the search.

“The members understand that students have an important voice and are an important piece of the process,” Ceresnak said.