With the resignation of Wayne State College’s current vice president of academic affairs, Dr. Michael Anderson, taking effect on June 30, the search is on for his replacement.

A search committee for the new VPAA was organized soon after Anderson’s resignation announcement in mid-November. The committee has been working with Summit Search Solutions, Inc. to review applicants through video interviews.

The search committee is composed of eleven members: Dr. Vaughn Benson (search committee chair), Rhonda Sebade (administrative support), Dave Graber, Denise Mostek, Dr. JoAnn Bondhus, Dr. Tara Wilson, Dr. Jeff Carstens, Dr. David Harycki, Dr. Andy Alexander, Dr. Barbara Engebretsen and Quinn Rochford.

“We had a nice pool of candidates to choose from,” Benson said. “We narrowed it down to four good candidates, and we’re really excited to have them on campus.”

According to the newsletter sent out to faculty and staff by WSC president Marysz Rames, each candidate will go through a two-day, on-campus interview process. This process includes sessions between academic direct reports, the deans, faculty and faculty senate members. It also includes open Q&A sessions for student, staff and faculty.

“The first interview session will be on March 2, and the last will end on March 30,” Sebade, the president’s office assistant, said. “If none of the candidates work out, then we can go back to the pool.”

The four candidates’ names will be announced in a campus e-mail to faculty and staff, which will be sent out sometime today. Sebade said that the administrative office was unable to provide the names of the candidates prior to sending out the campus e-mail.

Benson said that a Google survey will be conducted which will allow students, faculty and staff to weigh in on the candidates. These surveys will be looked at by the search committee and will impact their decision.