Board of Trustees to review Ross through on-campus interviews
The Central Michigan University Board of Trustees will be conducting a comprehensive review of University President George Ross this November.
Interviews with 75 people across campus and the larger community will take place the week of Nov. 12 and will provide Ross with valuable information that can help him grow as president.
The stakeholders will consist of academic deans, randomly selected faculty members, student leaders and other important figures across campus. They will be interviewed by the three-person Presidential Review Committee chaired by Trustee Brian Fannon.
Committee member and Trustee John Hurd said former president Mike Rao went through comprehensive reviews during his time at the university.
"It is part of the board policy that the president receives a board review every three years. This is the end of Ross' first three years in office," Hurd said. "It's my understanding that last time with Mike Rao it was done a little differently, asking for input from university stakeholders. Last time it was done by a computer-based survey with stakekholders asked to respond. This time we asked for face-to-face interviews with stakeholders."
Hurd and the board see the review as a developmental tool for the president as the university moves into the future.
"It's an ongoing possible solution for the president, board and university as we together plan for the future," Hurd said. "We see it being developmental as we'll be asking university leaders and stakeholders their perceptions about Ross as a leader, and any advice, comments, recommendations or concerns they may have will be part of the information we will use as we conduct the review of Ross."
Ross said the review doesn't have any relation to tensions between the faculty and administration last year.
"I don't think the review has anything to do with last year at all," Ross said. "It just has to happen between years three and five, and the board chose to do it this year."
When the interviews are over, the committee will compile a report that will be submitted at the Dec. 6 Board of Trustees meeting, where Hurd hopes most of the information will be made public.
"We want this process to be as open and transparent as it can be," he said. "At the same time it does involve personnel so there are some elements of it that can't be entirely transparent. Anything in that area of being a personnel matter that by law would not be subject to public disclosure may not be public. But, I would hope that we make everything public."
