Students on Hood’s 11th president

By Meg DePanise

Two representatives from R.H. Perry met with interested Hood students last week to gather input for the search for Hood’s 11th president.

On Sept. 17 and Sept. 18 Matt Kilcoyne and Jean Scott, the R.H. Perry representatives who are leading the presidential search process, talked with students about what attributes they think are most important for the next president.

In an email sent on Sept. 10 to all undergraduate and graduate students, administration provided details about the search for Hood’s next president who will succeed President Ronald J. Volpe. In May, President Volpe announced that he would retire after this summer’s Convocation to close his 14th year at Hood.

The process began with the selection of the executive search firm, R.H. Perry & Associates, along with a 13-member committee encompassing four college trustees, two faculty members, a staff member, an alumna and a current student. Three of the four trustees on the search committee are also alumnae of the college.

In the past weeks, students, faculty, staff, alumni, and donors have met with the R.H. Perry team and the members of the Presidential Search Committee. Everyone’s contributions will go into creating a profile for Hood’s next president.

About seven students attended the Sept. 17 afternoon meeting in the Whitaker Campus Commons. Many students identified some weaknesses of Hood as failing to engage the graduate, international, and commuter student’s in campus activities and the career center’s reputation for ineffectiveness.

Students said that they appreciate the closeness with their professors and President Volpe but they can’t say the same about their relationship with the financial aid, registrar, and career center faculty. “He’s driving around in his golf cart, you see him everywhere, he’ll eat dinner with you; that’s really nice and our faculty is the same way,” sophomore Logan Samuels said. She continued: “Everyone’s like don’t go to the career center, use Google to find your internship and don’t rely on these people which is horrible…I would definitely want them to have a better reputation if that’s something we could focus on.”

All of the students that attended Thursday’s meeting expressed how much they value President Volpe’s strong presence on campus. “An important thing about being president is being personable and being able to connect with your students,” communications and English student Kassy Stout said. “That’s what I hope carries on to the next president; that they’re very open and they’re fun to hang out with if you see them on campus.”

Ryan DiGirmolamo agreed: “I think it’s very important for people that are here and people who are considering Hood to realize how accessible our president actually is. The fact that he lives on campus is something that’s really important; I’m a tour guide so I always mention that and the parents are always really impressed and the students also.”

Students expressed concerns about the large number of faculty that left Hood over the summer. “Our provost changed a lot of things and then left last year, our head of athletics left, and now we have a rent-a-provost so it’s kind of scary to see all the change happening at once and it would definitely be good to have some consistency,” Samuels said.

Students agreed that Hood’s 11th president must be visible and accessible on campus. Many also said they want more transparency regarding where donated funds are going on campus, they want to know they have a say in the decisions that affect them at the college, and they want to understand what exactly the president’s role is.

“With regards to the decision making process of the new president, our four pillars of Hood are hope, obligation, opportunity, democracy, and I think the democracy part is really important and it’s sometimes overlooked in decision making,” junior Eric Stone said. “Obviously I know that the student body isn’t going to overrule the president but I think it’s really important to take into account how people feel about certain issues and not just kind of override that based on what’s best at the time.”

Students like Stone said that last year’s decision on the schedule changes made him feel like the average Hood student has no say. “I feel like that unless you are in the campus activities board or the student government association you have no voice whatsoever here regardless of if there’s a meeting and you voice your opinion,” he said.

Senior Sam Lopez said that many students don’t have a clear understanding of the president’s job. “A lot of the students here that I talk to feel that President Volpe is just a figure head and he doesn’t really do anything and most of us know that that’s not true but it’s sort of like this nebulous gray area.”

As for advice for Hood’s new president, “He’s got a tough act to follow,” Lopez said. “President Volpe, for the four years I’ve been here has been an incredible president.” Lopez continued: “He along with the board of trustees saved the college from bankruptcy about a decade ago and opened the campus to men which is why I’m able to be here. He’s just a really great all around committed person on campus and he really cares for the students so the new president is going to have to be able to do those things as well. It’s also important that the new president has a vision for the college because President Volpe has tried to keep us moving forward not just as a campus community but also with Frederick.”

The committee had its first meeting with R.H Perry representatives on Sept. 17 to define the search process and develop a timetable. According to the committee, the new president will be selected in approximately six months and the search is broken up into five phases.

The email labeled the phases as follows: develop an executive profile and advertise the position; develop and execute a national recruitment strategy; identify, select and interview candidates and select a finalist; check the finalist’s credentials and background; and finalize the appointment.

As listed in the email, the presidential committee members are: trustee co-chairs Jim Reinsch and Amy Chan; Judy Messina ’66; Martha Shimano ’86; Hamp Tisdale; Sue Whaley ’74; Ted Luck, director of student success and outreach; Chuck Mann, vice president for finance and administration; Maria Green Cowles, Ph.D., dean of the graduate school; alumna Julie Murray McCaffery ’79; Sang Kim, Ph.D., associate professor of economics and management and chair of the department of economics and business administration; Wayne Wold, DMA, associate professor of music and chair of the department of music; and senior Tim Hulyk, student government association president.

To read more about the presidential search, nominate a candidate or send a comment on what you think the Hood’s next president needs go to www.hood.edu/About-Hood/Presidential-Search/Presidential-Search-Landing.html.