Dear Campus Community,
I want to offer an update on the process of selecting our next Vice President for Institutional Advancement.
I have launched an expedited search for this position, one that reflects a sense of urgency that corresponds both to the importance of this role in building the future of our institution and to the constraints presented by this particular time of the academic year, which is fast-paced and intense as we wrap up our semester, finalize our strategic plan, and prepare for our community-wide Commencement celebrations.
We are once again partnering with Witt/Kieffer for this leadership search. Their expertise and knowledge of our institution are critical to our ability to identify talent for this position, which requires a keen understanding of the complexities and opportunities found within the landscape of higher education, philanthropy, and constituent relations.
I want to take a moment to acknowledge and to thank the members of our Division of Institutional Advancement, both the leadership and the entire staff, who have been doing incredible, collaborative work with Witt/Kieffer to identify and explore the division’s needs and the key characteristics that will be critical in this important role. In addition to the IA team, Witt/Kieffer has also participated in discussions with the members of my senior leadership team, with members of our board of trustees, and with consultants Maya Gasuk and Karin George to both finalize a leadership profile and actively recruit a small pool of creative, high-performing, and visionary professionals.
As a result of these efforts, I have had preliminary, in-depth conversations with candidates who have deep expertise that would benefit Ithaca College as we launch our future and continue to build connections and investment among our donors and our constituent communities. I am very proud to say that this small pool includes many of our own IC alumni.
Work to identify talented candidates is ongoing, and by early summer, I look forward to inviting finalists to campus to conduct in-depth interviews and conversations with a wide variety of our community members, including: our senior leadership team; Institutional Advancement staff and leadership; our deans; members of our faculty, staff, and student governance councils; members of our board of trustees; and our President’s Fellows. This representative cross-section of our community will informally serve as an advisory committee to me throughout this process and enable the hiring of this new vice president to be reflective of the needs of our community and this particular division.
I have been very pleased by the pace and progress of our concurrent and similarly expedited search for the Vice President for Marketing and Enrollment Strategy, which has clearly demonstrated that an ambitious process does not compromise the depth of the search or the quality of the candidates. This strong effort is informing my approach to finding our next Vice President for Institutional Advancement and I am confident that we will be able to engage top candidates in this highly competitive market.
The leadership profile for this position can be found here, and I want to encourage members of our community to continue to share suggestions for talented candidates for this position by emailing IthacaAdvancement@wittkieffer.com.
I look forward to beginning our 2019-20 academic year with a full leadership team in place, and I urge you to please stay tuned for further updates from me as our Vice President for Institutional Advancement search progresses. I continue to be grateful to our community for their insights and feedback to ensure that the college’s leadership team reflects the values of our institution and the promise of our future.
All my best,
Shirley M. Collado
President