After only three years, UNI is once again seeking a new president.

Familiar faces will take the helm as co-chairs, including UNI professor of management information systems Daniel Power and Regent Katie Mulholland.

Power had been notably critical of the University of Iowa’s presidential search earlier this year, which resulted in a sanction against the university.

“I thought the process had some flaws, and I think the board is trying to address them with a new search firm,” Power said. “And I don’t want to criticize the board right now […] I really hope that steps will be taken to remove that sanction. I don’t think it’s good for the regents’ institutions, but I think that [UNI’s] search demonstrates that we still have a very good relationship with the Board of Regents (BOR).”

The 21-member search committee hopes to appoint a new president by the end of the fall semester. Search members said the new president may not assume duties until the spring of 2017 or later.

They will begin interviews Nov. 11, and final candidates will come to campus by early December.

At 11:30 a.m. today, the UNI presidential search and screen committee will be holding a meeting open to the public in the University Room of Maucker Union. For people who cannot attend, there will be a live stream of the open sessions on the official Iowa regents’ website.

On Thursday, Aug. 25, there were two closed meetings held for student leaders to meet with the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB), a consulting firm based in Washington, D.C. Some 29 student leaders from various organizations were able to express their expectations for the next university president.

Representing the student body as a whole in this search is NISG president Hunter Flesch, junior elementary education and middle level education double major. Flesch, who is a member of the main search committee, also attended one of the listening sessions with the student leaders.

“I think a lot of the similar comments that were talked about to the AGB representatives were that of cohesion,” Flesch said. “They really wanted to see a president that’s willing to work with people. Someone who’s going to keep student’s interests in mind.”

The search committee members were chosen by the BOR from a pool of nominations.

“The biggest thing that they wanted to do was, as with most searches, was to make sure they got people from each aspect of campus,” Flesch said. “So tons and tons of different departments – different facilities like that.”

James H. McCormick is serving as one of the representatives from AGB.

McCormick said the company specializes in finding administrators in the field of higher education in the Midwest. Some of their repeat clients listed on their website include Buena Vista University, Texas A&M University and Saint Louis University.

With all the people needed to help coordinate the search, Daniel Power said he wouldn’t be surprised if this entire process ends up costing around $150,000. According to Power, the AGB consultants alone cost around $85,000, and the 2012 UNI presidential search totaled $143,000.

Power said the expenses not only allow for the university’s national search to bring in the best candidates for the job, but they also go towards making sure that everyone affected by this upcoming decision gets the chance to interact with these potential candidates. The candidates themselves also get a chance to experience the best that UNI has to offer, according Power.

“I feel confident in the search committee,” said Andrew Jessip, junior global studies major said. “This is the first time I’ve been involved in a process like this. So I can only hope that they will have the best interest of the university, […] students, […] faculty and staff at heart.”

For students looking to stay up to date on the search, they will have resource links posted on the main UNI website homepage; the Iowa BOR website will also serve as a reliable source throughout the search process.