Published: Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Updated: Wednesday, March 3, 2010
The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that Provost and Executive Vice President Terry Hickey has withdrawn his application from the pool of three candidates for president position at Florida Atlantic University.
The following article was written before the Central Florida Future’s deadline.
. . .
Although Provost and Executive Vice President Terry Hickey will retire from UCF in June, he is a candidate to be the new president of Florida Atlantic University.
Hickey, who announced his retirement in January, is one of three finalists for the position.
FAU’s Web site said the new president would be chosen Wednesday, but there was no announcement made by press time.
The university has been searching for a new president since September, according to Kristine Gobbo, the assistant vice president for media relations at FAU.
Of 43 candidates, Gary Miller, the provost and vice president of Wichita State University, and Mary Jane Saunders, the provost and senior vice president of Cleveland State University, were also chosen as finalists.
Gobbo said FAU received Hickey’s application in mid-February but was not sure when its search firm, R. William Funk and Associates, received his application.
Hickey has been visiting the campus since Sunday and has participated in several open forums with FAU faculty, staff and students, where many were wondering why he considered applying for the position.
“What I tell people is that I’m simply tired of being a provost,” Hickey said at a faculty open forum on Monday. “I’ve been provost for 10 years. … I’m tired of being a provost, but I’m not tired.”
Hickey said he still aspires to work in a university, just in a different position.
At the open forum, he said that what attracted him to FAU was that it is a metropolitan university and an institution that has excitement and drive.
“I am interested in being president,” Hickey said. “I have lots of energy, and it’s just deciding if there’s a good fit between Terry Hickey and FAU, and FAU and Terry Hickey.”
But UCF is still trying to find the right fit to replace Hickey. The search for a new provost continues, and the search committee estimates having 20 applicants for the provost position.
“We are right on schedule, and we are still aiming to present a few names of candidates that we approve to the president by the first week of May,” said Peter Panousis, dean of the College of Sciences and chair of the search committee.
Panousis said that if they came across an applicant that was willing to come out of retirement to apply for the UCF provost position, the committee would take similar steps to those of FAU.
“We would do exactly what FAU is doing,” Panousis said. “We would ask why that person retired and why they are willing to come out of retirement to apply for this position.”
The search committee has moved its next meeting to March 31, instead of March 29. At this meeting, they will narrow the applicant pool to eight to 10 candidates, approve the minutes from the last meeting and design the questions for the first face-to-face interviews.
As for UCF, Grant Heston, the assistant vice president of UCF News & Information, said they wish Hickey luck in his endeavors after he leaves UCF.
“I think Dr. Hickey has done a tremendous job here at UCF, and we wish him the best,” he said.