On Feb. 26, Geneseo hosted a forum that was open to all students with the intention of allowing the campus population to meet one of the candidates for the Chief Communications and Marketing Officer position. Students who attended had the opportunity to fill out a feedback form that aimed to get direct student input about the candidate.
From 11 a.m. to 12p.m., students had the opportunity to traverse to Doty Hall and be an active part of the search process. In addition, students were able to view the candidate’s resume in various parts of the campus.
The current search committee is made up of nine faculty members, including Wendi Kinney—who serves as the search committee’s chair.
Kinney said that their search began in November and has seen the team interview numerous candidates before selecting the ones who are currently being interviewed in these open forums.
“Part of that process was an initial screening of resumes, cover letters and portfolios,” Kinney said. “From there we determined a subset of applicants that we did Skype interviews with. Further, the search committee made a recommendation of a smaller subset of candidates to bring to campus for a full day of on-campus interviews. That process involved an open forum.”
The Chief Communications and Marketing Officer position oversees the marketing and communications department for the college. This department focuses on promoting the college through various modes of communication.
Kinney said that there has been interest among the student body to see who the next person to fill the position will be.
“With this particular position, we did have some students come to the open forum,” Kinney said. “I think that there is certainly interest by the student body to know who the chief communication and marketing officer is.”
Kinney also added that students are interested in who the next chief will be because they will be the one who tells the Geneseo story.
“I think that students have an interest in that piece of it too. How they’re communicated with and how we are telling Geneseo’s story,” Kinney said.
Kinney added that she hopes that the position will be filled and ready to start by the end of the semester.
“We tentatively identified the end of April, beginning of May as an ideal start date,” Kinney said. “Certainly, that would be subject to who the successful candidate was and their availability to start. So, we are hopeful that we’ve stayed on our proposed timeline. So, we think by the end of the spring semester, if not over the summer, to have a new position, new person identified.”