The presidential search is underway at Texas A&M University-Commerce. President Keith McFarland is stepping down as the tenth president of A&M-Commerce at the end of the academic year and hopefuls are already submitting their resumes.
Chancellor Mike McKinney of the A&M System along with Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Dr. Frank Ashley are heading up the search.
Ashley, previously the provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at A&M-Commerce, is confident even in the early stages of the search for McFarland’s replacement.
“Commerce is very special to me. I’m going to do my best to find someone right,” Ashley said.
According to Ashley, the process of hiring a president for A&M-Commerce is one that all Texas A&M System schools go through.
The process for A&M-Commerce is in its early stages as McKinney establishes a presidential search committee.
Names of faculty, administration, students, alumni and community members are contacted to serve on the committee.
According to David Crenshaw, president of the faculty senate, each person who is nominated is called to see if they will serve.
If they say yes, then a letter is sent to them asking them to formally serve, where they will have two weeks to respond.
Once the committee is established, Ashley will visit A&M-Commerce and give the committee their charge. Within the next month this committee will be established, and by November a job description for the president will be drawn.
To help with the search, a professional search firm will be hired to identify and screen candidates and advertising will continue until January. In February, the committee will review candidates.
Ashley and McKinney will not return to Commerce until two or three finalists are chosen. By August, at the latest, someone will be hired as the next president of A&M-Commerce.
According to the Texas A&M University Web site, over 100 candidates applied for the presidential position earlier this year when Texas A&M University in College Station was naming a new president.
Ashley says there is no telling how many candidates will apply for the position for A&M-Commerce.
Not only is there a search out for a president for A&M-Commerce, but searches for Tarleton State University and Texas A&M University-Texarkana. Presidents from these universities are either retiring or returning to the faculty.
McFarland plans to return to the classroom as a history professor once he steps down as president.
He has been with the university since 1969 as a history professor in different capacities until he became the president in 1998; but he is not the only president to return to the classroom; a former president of Texas A&M University is a math professor.