Message from the Presidential Search Committee

 

 

Dear Members of the University Community,

 

As we begin the search for a new President and Vice-Chancellor, the Presidential Search Committee wants to assure you that there will be a number of opportunities for input from a wide range of representatives of the University community. Your thoughtful contributions will be critical to ensuring we have a clear vision of what we need to look for in the next President and Vice-Chancellor, to ensure their qualities align with the University’s values and mission.

 

UPEI’s community of students, faculty, staff, and alumni rely on our shared, deeply held values of academic freedom and rigour; accountability and integrity; excellence; and inclusion, equity, and reconciliation to guide behaviour and actions. The Search Committee is also committed to these principles, and we take our role—to make certain that the future leader of our great institution embodies the University’s values—very seriously. 

 

To strengthen our approach, the Committee intends to seek three types of advisors:  1) equity, diversity and inclusion, 2) executive search process support, and 3) additional due diligence activities. Our next step as a committee will be to select these advisors, starting with an executive search firm to support us with the search process. While the search firm will assist and provide expertise, the President Search Committee will be responsible for establishing the direction and driving the process, leveraging insights from these advisors. We acknowledge that the task ahead is challenging but one that we have been entrusted to conduct in an open, transparent, and rigorous manner.

 

As part of the process, we will develop a series of broad engagement and outreach activities to consult with the University community. The dates and locations for these consultations will be released in the coming weeks. We encourage everyone to participate in these consultations to share thoughts on opportunities and challenges, priorities, and competencies that will provide insight into the ideal candidate profile.  

 

We look forward to communicating with you again soon to update you on the Committee’s progress, and to outline the process going forward. This message and future updates and resources will be available on our new web pages for the Presidential Search at upei.ca/presidentialsearch

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Shannon MacDonald, FCA, CPA, ICD.D

Chair, Presidential Search Committee