Q&A: Board chairwoman Gail Torreano talks business
Vision for Central Michigan University's next president
Board of Trustees Chairwoman Gail Torreano said she has not completely formulated a vision yet, as the presidential search Web site and forums will offer insight in coming weeks of what the campus community hopes to see. She said the Board can not understand every aspect of the university, so faculty, community and student opinions are important in coming weeks.
"We are a community. It's not top-down, it's bottom-up," she said. "I don't want it even to be a passive thing where there is this internet site and you can go on there, I want us to go seek information from these various stakeholder groups and bring that down."
She said a common topic brought up at an open forum Wednesday and in meetings with others on campus related to the search was transparency and involvement.
"People want to have the opportunity not just today in this process but that they want to in the future ... they want to have an opportunity to bring value to the table."
Added community support on the screening committee versus added at-large faculty members
Torreano said she chose to include added community members on the screening committee because these people are positioned to interact with faculty and students who are in the community, but also with those who are Mount Pleasant residents.
Tim Brockman, the owner of Max & Emily's Bakery Cafe, she said, was chosen for the committee because he is routinely in conversation at his restaurant with people from all three groups. Brockman graduated from CMU and is married to Elizabeth Brockman, professor of English language and literature, Torreano said.
"He has the historical perspective," she said. "He understands (CMU) from living and being married to a faculty member. He has perspective that I wouldn't have."
Torreano said she sees screening committee members as "gatherers" to draw feedback from the campus community. Aside from the opinions members have, she said, the people they reach out to are more important.
"If I thought this was a very sequential process and that the screening committee was a finite group of people that were going to provide information among one another, I would be concerned," she said. "This process is much bigger than them."
Torreano said Jason Nichol, a Mount Pleasant senior and president of the Student Government Association, will seek input from students in ways that are flexible for them.
Should Nichol hold his own open forums, she said, screening committee members may attend, but only if he sees it as an added benefit.
"That's our mission to educate students and they need to understand that we want to hear what they have to say," Torreano said. "They look at this from a totally different angle than I do."
What position do you see the interim president having especially with the hotel project and several interim positions open?
In order for the university to move forward, Torreano said, the interim president must have freedom to take action as she sees fit, in whatever areas need attention.
"They have authority to act. You really need that," she said. "I believe that Kathy Wilbur, she's been around here at this university ... and I think she has worked very closely with Mike Rao. I trust her."
Torreano said while the search process for a permanent president is on-going, the interim must have freedom to continue to make decisions and move forward.
"I don't plan on micromanaging," she said. "I'm not that kind of Board member."
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