New College Announces President Finalists

is down to five finalists for the college’s president position.

Bob Johnson, chairman of the New College of Florida Board of Trustees, announced the five candidates Wednesday.

Candidate interviews with New College's search committee, the campus community (including staff, faculty and students) and other members of the community will take place between Sunday and March 6, according to New College. 

The college anticipates that a decision will be made by mid-March. 

The president will be the successor to President Gordon E. “Mike” Michalson, Jr., who will retire on July 1. The longest-serving president in the history of New College, Michalson has served as president of the College since July of 2001

Following a one-year sabbatical, Michalson plans to rejoin the New College faculty as a professor of religion in the fall of 2013.

The five finalists selected by the Search Committee are:  

Dr. Pamela Gunter-Smith, Provost and Academic Vice President, Drew University (New Jersey)

In a column for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Drew University President Robert Weisbuch wrote this about Gunter-Smith:

“She's tough, focused, fair, and unfailingly realistic—able to make unpopular right decisions and stick to them. Through her wisdom and courage, I got some tacitly agreed-upon room to lead and then tried to lead by following, by interpreting the community's wishes and blending them with my own.”

Gunter-Smith previously worked at Spelman College where she chaired the Biology Department, served as a psychology professor and was associate provost for science and mathematics.

Before Spelman, Gunter-Smith was a research scientist and science administrator at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

She has a bachelor’s degree from Spelman College, and a doctorate in physiology from Emory University. 

Dr. Thomas Krise, Dean of the College of the Pacific, University of the Pacific (California)

Krise served as Dean of Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Collge of the Pacific since 2008. He was previously the chairman of the English Department at the college.

Krise is also being considered for the president post at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin. His wife Patty Krise is a senior executive at Ford Motor Company, according to his biography.

Krise received his bachelor’s degree in history from the U.S. Air Force Academy, his master’s degree in English language and literature from University of Minnesota, Master of Science in Administration from Central Michigan University and doctorate in English from University of Chicago.

Dr. Gregory Hess, Dean of the Faculty and VP for Academic Affairs, Claremont McKenna College (California)

Hess was a candidate for provost of Santa Clara University in California in 2011.

Hess also served as associate dean of the faculty, professor of public economics at Claremont McKenna and also served as an economic consultant for Honda Motors of North American from 1999 to 2006.

Hess received his bachelor’s degree in economics from University of California, Davis and master’s and doctorate in economics from The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Dr. Kevin Quigley, President & CEO, National Peace Corps Association (District of Columbia)

Before working for the Peace Corps, Quigley was the chief-executive of Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, director of public policy at Pew Charitable Trusts among other positions.

He is an adjunct faculty at George Mason University’s School of Public and International Affairs.

Quigley has degrees from Georgetown University, Columbia University, University of College Dublin and Swarthmore College.

He also blogs for The Huffington Post.

Dr. Donal O’Shea, Dean of the Faculty & VP for Academic Affairs, Mount Holyoke College (Massachusetts)

O’Shea specializes in singularity theory and in computational algebraic geometry, according to his biography on the college’s website. He served as dean since 1998.

In his biography he describes his job as dean of faculty at Mount Holyoke as:

“I see my job as serving the faculty: clearing out obstacles, helping to hire and retain the best possible people, providing resources, aiding in identifying opportunities, fixing things that are broken, seeing that institutional work and resources are equitably shared, and otherwise getting out of the way."

O’Shea is a Canadian native and has his doctorate and master’s of science degrees from Queen’s University, Kingston (Ontario) and his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.

The Search Committee

In September 2011, the search committee retained Archer-Martin Associates of Nantucket, Massachusetts, to guide the search process.

Committee members include Susan Burns (alumna), Charlene Callahan (former provost), Kathy Coffey, Audrey Coleman (trustee), Aron Edidin (faculty), Cindy Hill Ford (alumna), Renee Hamad, R.V. Heiser, Michael Long (student), Bob Johnson (trustee), William Johnston (trustee), Pat McDonald (faculty), Felice Schulaner (alumna and trustee), Stewart Stearns, Tom Towler and Alex Wylie (student).

The search announcement stated that New College seeks a president “who celebrates the life of the mind, values intellectual intimacy, and appreciates and rewards faculty dedication to student learning.

It seeks in its next president someone committed to serving the campus community internally and championing the college externally, and an experienced executive who is a true scholar, an avid teacher, and an effective fund-raiser.”