Also see: Chancellor candidate Carlos Santiago visits UMass | Prospective chancellor Subbaswamy visits campus | Chancellor Candidate Susan Phillips talks with student reps
The final four candidates in the chancellor search – Carlos Santiago, Susan Phillips, Kumble Subbaswamy and Sona Andrews– will be visiting the University of Massachusetts to meet with students, faculty and staff this week.
Each candidate will visit the flagship campus on a different day of the week, starting with Santiago on Monday. Phillips will follow on Tuesday, Subbaswamy will be in Amherst on Wednesday and Andrews will be the final candidate on Thursday.
When they visit, the candidates will attend four meetings and two meals with important University and community officials, students and the public.
According to a schedule published on UMass system President Robert Caret’s website, the finalists will have breakfast with the Rules Committee for an hour at 8 a.m. at the University Club followed by a meeting with the vice chancellors and deans at 9 a.m
From 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m., the candidates will meet faculty on the tenth floor of the Campus Center Monday through Wednesday and the eleventh floor on Thursday, followed by a meeting open to students for an hour commencing at 11:45 a.m.
The candidates will then have lunch with area legislators, foundation board members, alumni and community leaders.
In the afternoon, they will meet with staff from 1:45 p.m. to 2:45 p.m., and they will end the day by having an open campus meeting from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Memorial Hall.
Santiago, the chief executor officer of the Hispanic College Fund in Washington D.C., will visit the University today. The economist was the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee from 2004 to 2010, according to a press release from the University. Prior to that post, Santiago was the provost and vice president of student affairs at University of Albany.
Phillips, who will visit on Tuesday, is the current provost and vice president of student affairs at SUNY Albany, and has worked in that position since 2008, four years after Santiago left the position. She also serves on the National Advisory Committee for Institutional Quality and Integrity, according to the release.
Subbaswamy, who has been provost of the University of Kentucky since 2006, will visit on Wednesday. Prior to his post in the Bluegrass State, the physicist was the Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Miami and Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Indiana, according to the release.
The final candidate, Andrews, is Vice Chancellor for Academic Strategies for the Oregon University system, and will visit on Thursday. Andrews, who grew up in Massachusetts, was provost and vice president of student affairs at Boise State University from 2004 to 2010, according to the release. Prior to working in Oregon, she held a position in the provost’s office at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.
The visits are an opportunity for the candidates to get to know the school and for the search committee to get a feeling of how the candidates interact with the campus, according to University Spokesman Ed Blaguszewski.
“The University and the search committee want to get a sense of how these people interact with folks on campus and what kind of feedback these people provide,” said Blaguszewski. “[The candidates] see if it is a good fit and get a sense of the strengths of the University and what challenge lie ahead.”
After the meetings, Caret will interview each candidate and make his recommendation to the Board of Trustees, who have final say in the process.
Katie Landeck can be reached at [email protected].
