Search Committee members

James Tidwell, Chairperson

Monty Bennett

Jeff Cross

Cynthia Nichols

Mary Wallace

Heather Webb

Brenda Wilson

Dates of on-campus interviews

April 17 Robert Miller

April 18 Jennifer Palancia Shipp

April 19 Brian Nelson

April 20 Donald Amundson

Eastern should get ready for another round of on-campus interviews.

The search for a new general counsel will bring the final four candidates to campus during the week of April 16 – only a few weeks after the final presidential search candidates visited Eastern for their on-campus interviews.

Current general counsel, Joe Barron, announced his intent to retire last fall.

He will be replaced by either Robert Miller, the associate director of Eastern’s office of civil rights; Jennifer Palancia Shipp, the associate university counsel at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Brian Nelson, the executive director and associate general counsel at the University of Houston; or Donald Amundson, the associate general counsel at the University of Minnesota.

The candidate pool was narrowed down from 45 who applied as of Feb. 15.

“This was a very, very strong pool,” said James Tidwell, chair of the search committee and chair of the journalism department. “It was nationally advertised so we got candidates from virtually all over the country.”

Tidwell encourages the campus to attend the open sessions for the candidates. Attendants will have a chance to fill out evaluations for each candidate, which will be considered by the search committee when it makes its final recommendation to the president.

President Lou Hencken will chose who will replace Barron, but Tidwell expects Eastern’s next president to have a say in the decision as well.

The search process was delayed for about three weeks, but Tidwell said the timeline worked out well because the next president will be part of the decision.

The next president will be named by the time the four general counsel candidates visit campus.

Barron has been at Eastern since 2000, and plans to move to Texas with his wife once he is replaced.

The first candidate will be on campus April 17.