On August 14, 2009, the Board of Trustees approved the following Charge to the Presidential Search Committee.

The McDaniel College charter authorizes the Board of Trustees to appoint a president and faculty “as they may deem proper for instructing the students and scholars … in all the liberal arts and sciences…. ”   To this end the Board has charged the Presidential Search Committee with finding and recommending to it the individual who, in its judgment, is best qualified to become McDaniel’s ninth president.

SEARCH CRITERIA:  The ninth president of McDaniel College will be a visionary leader, strategic thinker and lifetime learner, who inspires excellence in others. This individual will demonstrate strength of character, value McDaniel’s unique culture, and be able to excel as McDaniel’s chief ambassador.

The Search Committee is responsible for all aspects of the search, including administering the process, articulating the search criteria, actively recruiting candidates, screening candidates, and making its recommendation to the Board. While the composition of the Search Committee itself is broadly representative of the McDaniel community of trustees, faculty, administrators and students, the Committee will also reach out to alumni, parents and the many other friends of McDaniel College. Notwithstanding any Committee member’s identification with a particular constituency of the College community, each is charged with representing the College as a whole.

The Search Committee will cause the search to be an inclusive process as everyone understands how important the selection of a new president is to the College’s future. The Committee will also ensure ample opportunity early on for all parts of the McDaniel community to secure information about the process as well as to provide significant input.

Each member of the Search Committee is bound by Information Guidelines intended to safeguard the process of managing and disseminating information in connection with the search for the ninth president of McDaniel College. The guidelines are a tool for managing the dual, and inherently conflicting, needs for confidentiality and participatory decision making in the search process. Among other things, this undertaking covers minutes of all meetings, the collection of all information, and information regarding the nature of all meetings and conversations relating to the search. All such information is required to be kept confidential to protect the privacy of candidates and the integrity of the search process.

Subject to the need for confidentiality, the Chair of the Search Committee, who acts as its spokesperson, will periodically and as appropriate advise the Board of Trustees and other members of the College community regarding the progress of the search.