AT&T, Bennett, and WSSU searching for new leaders

Johnnetta Cole has announced the upcoming academic year will be her last as president of Bennett College.

N.C. A&T's James Renick has already left Greensboro to take a position with the American Council on Education in Washington.

The UNC system offered Winston-Salem State University Chancellor Harold Martin a plum job as senior vice president for academic affairs, luring him to Chapel Hill.

And that leaves all the historically black colleges and universities in the Triad in the same spot: looking for a new leader.

But officials connected to each of the searches don't think the concurrent hunts will produce matching lists of candidates, mainly because all the campuses have different missions.

"I think that probably all three of those schools have unique requirements," said Gracie Coleman , chairwoman of the search committee at Bennett. "There are lots of talented people around. We'll all find the right person for our particular roles."

The schools have distinctive missions and backgrounds. A&T, the largest of the trio with an enrollment of about 11,000 students, has a strong agricultural and technical history. Winston-Salem State , with about 5,500 students, has a liberal arts background — as does Bennett, a private school for women with a student body just shy of 600.

"The person interested in being the chancellor at A&T probably is not the same candidate we would be looking at Winston-Salem State, which is more of a liberal arts college, so I don't really think we're competing within the same pool," said Ann Lemmon , associate vice president for human resources with the UNC system. "Bennett, as a small private women's college, is looking for someone different."

But to try to avoid playing one school against another, UNC system schools A&T and Winston-Salem State will use different search firms, Lemmon said.

A majority of the state's five historically black public universities are looking for new leaders. Along with the two Triad schools, Elizabeth City State University is seeking a replacement for Chancellor Mickey Burnim , who is taking over the top spot at Bowie State University in Maryland.

All the leadership posts are being vacated by racial minorities, and many constituents say they would like other persons of color to be hired.
People familiar with higher education searches say the pool of minority candidates has increased over the years and if contenders have the goods, they are in high demand.

"It's not a big pool but it's not minute either," said Steve Leo , a managing consultant with the international search firm Edward W. Kelley & Partners. The firm is not affiliated with any of the local searches, he said.

"The reality is that quality candidates of color are highly desirable by almost any institution. From a labor perspective, it's a sellers' marketplace. High-caliber, top-notch African American applicants are in demand from historically black colleges and by mainstream colleges."

Velma Speight-Buford , chairwoman of A&T's board of trustees and the search committee, said the pool of minority candidates has grown considerably over the years, in part because of fellowship programs designed to train people to become chancellors and presidents and because women are also being considered.

"The pool is probably better than it ever has been," she said.
Speight-Buford said she couldn't remember another time when all the local historically black colleges and universities were doing leadership searches at the same time, but she sees the coincidence as a sign they are on the move.

"Once upon a time, people came to HBCUs and stayed forever," she said. "It was just like everything else within the minority community. You just didn't change jobs a lot because if you changed jobs a lot, people would think something was wrong. Now if you don't change jobs a lot people think things are wrong."

The outgoing leaders' tenures at their institutions are between five and seven years, which is considered the average length of a university presidency.

Leo didn't think the simultaneous searches would negatively affect the schools. Having three new leaders looking to make a mark in the region could lead to new partnerships, he said. "That might, in the end, be a very positive thing, " he said.