Illinois State University's governing body approved a resolution Friday allowing the hiring of a search firm to find candidates for the university's top job.
ISU has not had a permanent president since February, after Terri Goss Kinzy resigned less than halfway through a term that was supposed to extend through 2025. Former university provost Aondover Tarhule has been interim president in the meantime.
ISU Board of Trustees chair Kathy Bohn said Friday's vote that approved the hiring of an external search firm was timed to coincide with the return of students, faculty and staff to campus, as well as with the board having a permanent chair — Bohn was interim chair until July.
"We wanted a chair that could move this forward rather than an interim chair starting it, and then perhaps it (not being) the same chair," said Bohn, adding if the special meeting had not been called Friday, the next meeting of the board would not have happened until October.
Bohn also said many details surrounding ISU's search for a new president are not yet finalized, including how much the university is willing to spend on a search firm and to what extent potential candidates for the job will be publicized.
"We will wait for the search firm to advise us," Bohn said regarding the latter.
Kinzy became president of ISU in May 2021 after a closed search process. Trustee Julie Jones, who was board chair at the time, said in a previous interview the goal had been to broaden the search pool so that it included more diverse candidates.
Search firm history
Illinois State University has hired an external search firm for 13 searches in the past decade, according to records obtained by WGLT. That includes presidential searches and those further down the organizational chart, like athletics director, chief diversity officer, or dean of the new College of Engineering. ISU has spent (or is contracted to spend) around $1.1 million on these external search firms over the past decade, records show.
The average cost is about $100,000 per search, although that can be more or less for higher- or lower-profile positions, according to contracts reviewed by WGLT. It cost $150,000 to hire WittKieffer to guide the search that led to the hiring of Kinzy in 2021, records show. It cost $30,000 to hire Collegiate Sports Associates to consult on the hiring of men’s basketball coach Ryan Pedon in 2022.
The use of search firms is guided by university policy, which says the board of trustees may hire an external search firm for presidential hires. They can also be used for hiring “other highly skilled administrators,” though that is discretionary.
In 2017, ISU added a new position to its Human Resources department focused on executive search, in part to limit how often ISU has to hire an external search firm.
“Illinois State moved to an internal model because we are better suited to authentically represent ISU and answer questions from a place of true understanding than an external firm,” said Lisa Mason, ISU’s director of academic employment and executive search services.
“There are instances, however, in which we do not have sufficient time and/or resources to build a quality recruitment pool or hold genuine recruitment calls with potential applicants. There are also positions in which the market necessitates the use of an external firm with established networks and prestige.”
Mason said they’re likely to use an external search firm for the hiring of an athletics director; that search is set to begin in spring 2024. But Mason said “searches for vice presidents, associate vice presidents, and deans will likely be handled internally.”
When it does decide to hire an external search firm, ISU chooses from a list of vendors provided by the Illinois Public Higher Education Cooperative, of which ISU is a member.
Bohn said although there's not yet a cap on how much the university is willing to spend in hiring a search firm, ISU will receive "a better price" for using a state-approved firm.
No official timeline has been set for the process. Tarhule's agreement to serve as ISU's interim president extends through June 30, 2024.
Bohn said once the search firm has been selected, "they will help us with the timeline."
