Once the Presidential Search and Screening Committee at Southeast Missouri State University narrows down candidates for the school's top job, interviews are expected to be held off-site Feb. 2 and 3, with campus interviews later that month.

Committee chairman Doyle Privett said plans are to make an offer to someone during the last week of February or no later than the first week of March.

Parker Executive Search was hired by the university's board of regents to help find a new leader after Southeast president Kenneth Dobbins announced Sept. 8 his intention to retire. The university contracted to pay the Atlanta company $82,500, plus expenses incurred such as travel, advertising and interview expenses.

The job was posted Nov. 6, and the application deadline is Dec. 31.

Dobbins' base salary for fiscal year 2015 is $235,000. He receives an annuity of $65,000, and on-campus housing is provided by the university.

Brady Barke, senior associate to the president and board of regents secretary, said the position has been advertised in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, online and in print; Women in Higher Education; Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education; and on the Southeast and Parker Executive Search websites.

Privett, who also is president of the university's board of regents, said some candidates will be viewable on the secure website Nov. 20. The committee will hold a teleconference with Parker Executive Search on Dec. 4 for an update.

By Jan. 8, the search committee will have access to all the candidate materials on the secure site. The committee meets Jan. 22 and will identify eight prospects to interview on campus. Those candidates will be invited for interviews Feb. 2 and 3 off-site, Privett said.

He said no names will be released until the finalist is chosen.

"We will bring two, three or four of the candidates to campus, but probably three is what I'm thinking," Privett said.

Those candidates will be brought in for interviews and to meet with the board of regents, he said.

Dobbins' effective retirement date is June 30.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

388-3639

Pertinent address:

1 University Plaza, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

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Presidents from outside academia

In the past, college and university presidents take a traditional academic route to the top job. But these days, universities are widening their searches, looking at those from outside the field or from other areas of a particular school.

• The American Council on Education in Washington, D.C., represents more than 1,600 college and university presidents.
• The average length of service for a college president is 8.5 years, the survey shows.
• A report issued by the American Council on Education in 2012 says 20 percent of presidents' immediate prior positions were outside higher education. Thirty-eight percent of college and university presidents received their highest earned degree in education and were three times more likely to have their highest degree in education than the humanities (14 percent), or social sciences (12 percent), the report shows.
• Seven percent of presidents got their degrees in religion/theology, while 15 percent earned degrees in law, medicine, health fields or business.
• Eleven percent of presidents earned their highest degrees in science, engineering, technology and math.
• Daniel Hurley, associate vice president for government relations and state policy at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, also in Washington, D.C., said the proportion of nontraditional presidential candidates is slowly picking up with people coming from the business community, politics and a few from the military.
• Presidents also come from other parts of an institution, such as chief advancement officers -- the top fundraising officer; occasionally student affairs, or people who have spent time on the business or finance side of a college or university, Hurley said.
• Hurley said search committees and governing boards may look outside traditional areas to hire people with a broad set of skills that transcend academic leadership.
• He added he's seen a survey in recent years showing there is less of a desire by academic officials to move up to the presidency because of the "remarkable and ever-increasing challenges of that role."