Search Process

Deeper Look into the Presidential Search

By Alex Kerai ’19 Editor-in-Chief

On the morning of the presidential announcement, the Herald spoke by phone with John Isaacson, the founder and Chair of search firm Isaacson, Miller. Mr. Isaacson was integrally involved in the presidential search and answered some of the Herald’s questions about the process and what it was like to work with HWS.

Mr. Isaacson and his firm have been assisting the Colleges and the Presidential Search Committee since early July. In an email update, Search Committee co-chairs Andy McMaster and Cynthia Fish wrote that “Isaacson, Miller is a preeminent firm serving academia in the recruitment of presidents, vice presidents and deans for some of the nation’s leading Colleges and universities.” Throughout the process, Mr. Isaacson has met with students, faculty, and staff to determine the desired qualities for the next HWS president, while managing the search process and recruiting candidates.

“People were very anxious on campus about the search, and that included everyone from students to faculty and staff to the Board,” Mr. Isaacson said. “But the Search chairs and the Board chair put a tremendous amount of time in on preparing for the search.” He noted that they interviewed many different search firms and “probably did more reference checks than anyone else who hired us.”

Listening sessions for faculty, staff, and students were held on campus so that Isaacson, Miller could begin to assess the needs of the community. Isaacson said that he traveled to campus several times as well: “I think we really did know the campus well by the end of the search, and I’m sure that influenced the quality of the Search Committee’s deliberations and be clear about what it needed.”

But it was not just the campus itself that was attractive. Isaacson noted that “the most attractive thing here was that people really believe in the place and they understand viscerally what it can mean to young people. It’s a really nice and reassuring commitment to helping young people find their place in the world – intellectually and personally. There’s a shared view among trustees and faculty – ‘mission coherence’ – That made it possible for the committee to probe what was important in a new President.” Although aspects of the search were closed to outsiders, and Isaacson would not disclose any trade secrets, he had nothing but praise for the committee and the work they did. One faculty member of the committee, Professor of Political Science Justin Rose, said that the faculty were “the only elected representatives, specifically with the purpose of serving on the Search Committee.” As such, Rose noted, “there was a bit of added pressure, a certain sense of having to represent the views of the faculty. We wanted to represent the views of the faculty but also the broader institutional view.” Isaacson complimented the committee as a whole. With such a diverse range of experiences and viewpoints, it could have been difficult to agree on a single candidate. But the choice of Dr. Jacobsen was unanimous and Isaacson commended the committee: “I appreciate very much the way they came together, the quality in the leadership of the committee, and the way people reached beyond their normal experience to learn more about the place. They came together in a really lovely way.” Members of the faculty who were on the Search Committee echoed Isaacson’s sentiments: “During the process there was widespread transparency and honesty which made it a successful search in the end,” Rose told the Herald. “We [the faculty] were as honest as we could be about wanting equity, which helped the process be a success in the end.” Isaacson also noted that they started off having many different angles of vision before working their way towards a single vision. Professor of Physics Donald Spector agreed when he spoke to the Herald after the announcement: “It was a really high-functioning committee. Everybody listened to everybody else. It wasn’t like we all went in saying, ‘We must think alike,’ but we took those differences of how we thought and really achieved a common viewpoint and this is the outcome and we’re all feeling equally excited about it.” Isaacson commended Dr. Jacobsen, the President-elect, as a “an incredible Provost” and said that she has “the combination of a thoughtful careful listener and decisive intellectual.” These qualities became more apparent during extensive interviews with the committee: “She manages beautifully to pull everyone together [at Wesleyan] to create a kind of dialogue that is important and then make critical choices that are strategically important.” Praise of both Dr. Jacobsen and the Search Committee was unanimous at both the Presidential announcement and during the Herald’s call with Isaacson. After having visited HWS and worked with faculty, staff, and students from the school for the past seven months, Isaacson said, “The school has a terrific array of programs and a faculty utterly dedicated to their teaching. This is a personal journey for students, and they can find their way in the world.” In regard to Dr. Jacobsen’s new journey as President of HWS, Isaacson praised her work and noted that he will probably offer private advice to her closer to July when her tenure begins.

Left: President-elect Joyce Jacobsen is welcomed with a standing ovation to HWS Above: John Isaacson of Isaacson, Miller the firm used for the Presidential Search

Photo Credits: Ani Freedman for the Herald & Ken Kotch

Jacobsen

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capital campaign for the Colleges began in 2006 and culminated in the 2016 opening of the Gearan Center for the Performing Arts.

At the Gearan Center on Friday, President-elect Jacobsen was able to meet a handful of the students and faculty at HWS after the announcement. She said that after she begins fulltime in July she is looking forward “to talk to yet more people … [and] to really understand more about the place and how all the different constituencies and individuals here see the Colleges.” She also wants to do a thorough inspection of all the buildings on campus. “I like to go bottom to top on buildings … because physical space is an important aspect of how students and faculty and staff experience the Colleges.”

Even while she is not on campus, Jacobsen will continue to be accessible to students. Already, her email account is set up and she plans to visit campus a few more times before the summer. She wants people to “always feel that they can contact me and tell me things they think I need to know.” Jacobsen plans to be very accessible to students, which was already evident by an earlier meeting with select students before the announcement.

It is that accessibility along with her willingness to help others and step into action that has brought Jacobsen to HWS as president. She said that at Wesleyan, “whenever I was asked to serve or something, I would say ‘yes’ because I thought I could do a good job on this and it freed somebody else from doing it and I will learn more from it.” Each time she was asked to step up, either as chair, dean, or provost, “it was because I was asked to do the job, it wasn’t because I had volunteered for it, but that I felt that I would step up and serve through my leadership – or lead to serve.” Now Jacobsen is moving forward by accepting the position of President of the Colleges. She said that she was looking for her next step and found the idea of being President of a school to be interesting. When she began looking she said that “the main attractor is the Colleges and I think thinking that this would be a good match in terms of my skill set, that, again, Wesleyan isn’t that different from Hobart and William Smith, it’s relatively similar in size of the undergraduate student body size, the acreage, the type of curricular structures you have. So there’s things that are different, but it’s not so different that it will take me that long to get up and familiar with it.” One of the most important elements of the announcement was that Dr. Jacobsen would be the first woman president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges. She noted that it was something that attracted her to the job, and that “it just says again that another place where people weren’t used to seeing women is now becoming increasingly a place where it is perfectly normal to see all types of people and that doesn’t have to become a factor going forward as much.” Jacobsen concluded by saying that she looks forward to meeting more students at the Colleges and understanding “how I can make this a better Colleges for them as well.” Jacobsen begins her tenure as President of Hobart and William Smith Colleges on July 1.