It takes a lot of steps to find a chancellor: almost one year, more than 20 search committee members, three final candidates and two rounds of interviews.

“There wasn’t even a close second” to Chancellor-designate Kent Syverud, said Joanne Alper, chairwoman of the chancellor search committee. The committee was going to come to a consensus on one or two people to recommend to the Board of Trustees: “But when we finished this process, there wasn’t even a question of there being anyone else,” she said.

Syracuse University announced on Thursday through a campus-wide email that the Board of Trustees had selected Syverud, dean of Washington University’s School of Law in St. Louis, as the school’s next chancellor. He will begin his tenure on Jan. 13, 2o14.

The announcement comes almost a year after current chancellor Nancy Cantor said she would step down when her contract expires in June 2014. In June, Cantor announced she was leaving for Rutgers University’s Newark campus, starting as chancellor there Jan. 1, 2014.

The process of selecting Syverud included getting input from different groups: staff, faculty, students, alumni, community members and trustees; conducting two rounds of interviews; and coming to a consensus about whom to recommend to the Board of Trustees.

While the committee was already getting input from these groups, members met for the first time in February in the Founders Room at Maxwell Hall, Alper said. There was unanimity about issues the university faces — both specific to SU and those in higher education. The committee created a vision for the candidate, which the search consultants used as a template, she said.

“It truly functioned by consensus,” she said of the committee. “And it got even better as it went along, because we got to know each other better. Everyone checked their ego at the door. And everyone listened.”

Open forums were held in March, including three separate ones for staff, faculty and students at SU.

The committee held several conference calls, and published the public description of the job online in early April. There was also a more detailed description of what the committee was looking for in a chancellor, which she said was private.

Spencer Stuart, the firm hired to help with the search, worked on getting the first batch of names during April and May, finding people who were interested in the position and doing initial interviews.

In mid-June, Alper said, the committee looked through resumes and backgrounds of candidates — though she’s not sure how many — before ending up with seven people to interview during the end of July. The dates were set months earlier to make sure everyone would be available.

“When we actually decided who to interview, the whole committee was really high on Kent, just from what was on paper,” she said, though adding that doesn’t always translate to being the head of a university.

The first round of interviews was held during two days in New York — the first time the members of the search committee saw the candidates in person.

All contact was made through Spencer Stuart to ensure confidentiality in the search. In any search, Alper said, if there isn’t confidentiality there won’t be any viable candidates.

“The integrity of the committee was amazing,” she said. “Nothing leaked.”

Syverud came in from the very beginning and said he wanted the job, and Alper said he joked: “But I know I shouldn’t probably say that because it’ll hurt my negotiating.”

After the first round Syverud was clearly one of the top candidates, Alper said.

The seven from the first round were whittled down to three, and the second round of interviews were held Aug. 13-15.

Alper said there’s “not a fast answer” to why the committee recommended Syverud to the Board of Trustees. He’s passionate, intelligent, experienced, loves student life and teaching and truly listens, she said.

“We started talking. And we never had to get to a vote,” Alper said. “Because people started talking about Kent, and about their reactions to him, and it was like there was nobody else.”

Alper said if the committee hadn’t found someone, they would’ve kept going. They expected to finish the process toward the end of 2013.

“The timeline was ongoing until we found Kent,” she said.

The mood was very emotional, she said. Everyone spoke and they were excited about Syverud being the next chancellor.

“So, I said at some point, I always wanted to lead this committee by consensus. Is there a consensus? And the committee members said, ‘No. It’s unanimous. We are unanimous.’”

Afterward, Spencer Stuart let Syverud know he was the candidate, and Alper said, “we didn’t have to wait five minutes,” to hear he was in. Then, like any search, contractual arrangements and background checks were worked on. A few weeks ago, Syverud visited campus for the first time as a candidate.

On Monday, the Board of Trustees’ Executive Committee unanimously supported the committee’s recommendation.

And at about 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, the board unanimously selected Syverud as the 12th chancellor in SU’s 143-year history.

Published on September 14, 2013 at 1:08 pm

Contact Dylan: dmsegelb@syr.edu | @dylan_segelbaum