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President

Employer
University of Oregon
Location
Eugene, Oregon
Salary
competitive
Date posted
Dec 20, 2022

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Position Type
Executive, Chancellors & Presidents
Employment Level
Executive
Employment Type
Full Time

President 

Position Description

The University of Oregon (UO) seeks to appoint the next president of the university. The UO seeks a president who relentlessly pursues and promotes institutional excellence and has a demonstrated and well-articulated passion for public higher education. This person will be an innovative leader and a strategic thinker with a record of uncompromising integrity and an unwavering moral compass.

The Position

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The President is the University of Oregon’s chief executive officer, administrator, and advocate. They are the university’s standard bearer for institutional excellence, one who can use their leadership effectively to positively transform the entire institution. The President of the University of Oregon personifies the institution’s care for and commitment to its great purpose—enhancing the social, cultural, physical, and economic wellbeing of our students. Together with the Board, the President will provide vision and strategic leadership for the University. 

The University of Oregon is among the nation’s great public research universities as a member of the AAU. The President will honor the deep commitment the university has to students, research, and to its liberal arts roots while it continues to make unprecedented investments in areas of societal impact, as demonstrated by recent initiatives in the Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact and the Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health in Portland. The university’s next leader should work with and support faculty from a wide range of disciplines who are committed to enhancing their academic influence and societal impact in ways that further accelerate the university’s ambition and commitment to excellence.

The university’s success is inextricably linked to the success of its faculty, staff, and students. The UO is committed to being a sought-after destination for faculty, staff, and students who create knowledge and practical impact. The next President will cultivate and nurture an environment that attracts and supports the highest quality, highest performing, and most diverse faculty, staff, and students to deliver on this mission of academic excellence, research, and public service. They will do so by utilizing their experience to lead and support an exemplary campus culture and community, one that fosters inclusion, belonging, safety, respect, and equity.

Institutional excellence comes through strong management, principles of shared governance, as well as prudent and bold financial leadership. The President will provide clear, trusted management and direction to leaders throughout the institution, including vice presidents and direct reports. They should be able to collaborate in shared governance with the University’s Senate to develop and implement high standards of our academic mission. The next President should have a demonstrated track record of making financial and managerial decisions to ensure fiscal strength. The next President will lead an ambitious commitment to earning private philanthropic support and partnerships. 

Grounded in a commitment to collaboration and excellence, the University of Oregon is a leader in the local community, state, region, nation, and beyond. The President will lead university engagement with the community; including elected and governmental officials; professional and educational associations; state, federal, and international agencies, and the public at large. The President will actively participate in community affairs in Eugene/Springfield, Portland, and the broader state of Oregon and will build strong relationships with communities across the state, and advocate for public resources in Salem (Oregon’s Capital). The President will work collaboratively with the Board of Trustees, other university Presidents, elected and appointed officials, education leaders, and business leaders to advance shared goals for public education and impact/or service in the state of Oregon.

Along with its commitment to academic and environmental excellence, the University of Oregon also has a tradition of excellence in athletics, which has helped introduce the university to the world. The President will maintain institutional oversight of and support the success of the UO’s Division I NCAA intercollegiate athletics program.

The Board encourages those who have demonstrated a track record on the issues outlined above to apply to lead the university’s next ambitious era. To ensure success in the role, the next President should have the following:

  • An earned doctorate, appropriate terminal degree, or equivalent record of successful executive leadership with experience sufficient to warrant the respect of the academic community;
  • Uncompromising ethical standards and strength of character (honesty, integrity, authenticity, humility, and empathy);
  • Record of leadership in promoting racial equity and inclusion enhancing diversity in all its forms, which includes a cohesive and inclusive culture;
  • Executive leadership and management experience demonstrating shared governance, and the ability to lead a large, complex academic institution with multiple campuses;
  • The ability to navigate political landscapes with a clear understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing public higher education, from a state and national perspective, and their impact on a competitive research university;
  • An ability to develop and effectively communicate a shared, compelling, and exciting vision to move UO into the top 50 national universities, while inspiring and mobilizing the various constituency groups to implement and achieve the vision;
  • A vision for leveraging UO’s well-known brand identity to foster growth of the academic and creative enterprises, expand research opportunities (both basic and applied), value arts and humanities, and maintain the highest standards of quality in undergraduate and graduate education;
  • A strong commitment to inclusion, transparency, collaboration, and shared governance, and excellent communication skills including the ability to collaborate effectively and build consensus across multiple constituencies, both internal, faculty, staff, and student, as well as external alumni, donors, local and state community members;
  • Unwavering commitment to the overall well-being of undergraduate and graduate students, ability, and enthusiasm to connect and relate with students and the student experience, a record of involvement in initiatives that support student success, achievement, graduation, and career-readiness, and the ability to support underrepresented students;
  • The ability to navigate political landscapes with a clear understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing public higher education, from a state and national perspective, and their impact on a competitive research university;
  • Fiscal acumen with demonstrated success in navigating shifting financial landscapes;
  • Commitment to recruit and retain talented faculty and staff, especially those from underrepresented and/or marginalized backgrounds;
  • Appreciation for and an understanding of the complexities of a multi-union environment;
  • Successful track record of fundraising and developing external and community relationships;
  • A commitment to and understanding of the value of a strong Division I intercollegiate athletic program and the academic success of our student-athletes;
  • A perspective that values the importance of community-based relationships that are strategic, constructive, and positive; and an ability to use that perspective to bolster relationships in the Eugene/Springfield area, Portland, Salem, and throughout the state;
  • A commitment to environmental sustainability efforts and their systemic impact on our local, regional, and global responsibility;
  • Demonstrated ability to work effectively with a full range of external constituents, such as alumni, donors, members of the community, media, legislators, other government officials, and leaders in the private and nonprofit sectors;
  • Value in and respect for a robust arts community.

Please visit https://parkersearch.com/current-opportunities/university-oregon/president-0 to access full Presidential Profile.

Land Acknowledgement ____________________________________________________________________________

The University of Oregon is located on Kalapuya Ilihi, the traditional indigenous homeland of the Kalapuya people. Following treaties between 1851 and 1855, Kalapuya people were dispossessed of their indigenous homeland by the United States government and forcibly removed to the Coast Reservation in Western Oregon. Today, descendants are citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon, and continue to make important contributions in their communities, at UO, and across the land we now refer to as Oregon.

We express our respect for all federally recognized Tribal Nations of Oregon. This includes the Burns Paiute Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, the Coquille Indian Tribe, the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, and the Klamath Tribes. We also express our respect for all other displaced Indigenous peoples who call Oregon home.

Search Team and Contact Information 

The Search Committee invites nominations, applications (a letter of interest, full curriculum vitae or resume, and the names and contact information of five or more references) or expressions of interest to be forwarded to the search firm assisting The University of Oregon (electronic submissions preferred). Confidential review of materials will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. All nominations and applications should be submitted to the search firm prior to February 1, 2023.

Laurie C. Wilder, President

Porsha L. Williams, Vice President

Parker Executive Search

Five Concourse Parkway, Suite 2875; Atlanta, GA 30328

Phone: 770-804-1996 X 102 or X 109

lwilder@parkersearch.com || pwilliams@parkersearch.com

An equal-opportunity, affirmative-action institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

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