Ohio University has received 11 applications for the university’s next president.
Of those 11 applicants, none are serving as the president of a university or higher education institution. Nine of the applicants are men, and two are women. A majority of the applicants are nonwhite.
The committee expects to hold confidential interviews in Dublin in early December with eight to 10 of those candidates and then could finalize its recommendations to the Board of Trustees in January. The final candidates would be invited to campus to meet with certain groups of OU “constituents,” according to the scheduling worksheet from Witt/Kieffer, the university's search firm.
OU Spokesman Dan Pittman said the search is still on schedule.
“It is expected that a successful candidate will be chosen by March 2017 and will assume the presidency no later than the summer of 2017,” he said in an email.
The worksheet, obtained through a public records request, states the next president will assume office July 1. The contract for current OU President Roderick McDavis will expire the day before.
McDavis announced in March he would step down from his position as president. He applied for president at Florida Gulf Coast University and was one of 10 original semifinalists. He dropped out of contention because he reportedly accepted another job, Susan Evans, vice president and chief of staff at Florida Gulf Coast, said in a previous Post report.
The full list of candidates is:
Ravi Krovi
Krovi is a professor and the dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Akron. He holds a Ph.D. in management information systems and decision sciences from the University of Memphis and has since worked as an assistant professor at Southern Arkansas University and North Carolina A&T State University before working in Akron.
Paul Low
Low is a professor of medicine and associate chief of staff in the divisions of Pulmonary and Respiratory Operations at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine. He holds a medical degree from Upstate Medical University, State University of New York.
Brad Sims
Sims is the chief academic officer and professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Worldwide campus in Daytona Beach. Sims holds a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from Purdue University in 1999.
Tianna Cohen
Cohen is the vice president of Admissions for American National University, a private, for-profit university with multiple campuses. She holds a bachelor’s degree in education and marketing from the University of West Indies.
John Wensveen
Wensveen is a professor in the School of Aviation and Transportation Technology at Purdue University. He received his doctorate in Business/Air Transportation Management at Cardiff University in Wales.
Richard Owens
Owens is a history professor at West Liberty University in West Virginia, and was previously president of the college from 2001 to 2006. He holds a doctorate in U.S. History from the University of Maryland in 1988.
Sunil Wimalawansa
He has worked at the Cardio Metabolic Institute in Somerset, New Jersey, since 2013. Before that, he worked as a professor of medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and the University of Texas medical branch. He holds a Ph.D. in endocrine pathology from the University of London.
Kenneth Saunders
Saunders is the executive vice president of Nassau Community College, where he has worked since 1999, in Garden City, New York. He was the acting president of that college from January 2013 to August 2015. He previously served as the assistant vice president for Student Affairs at the State University of New York. He received his doctorate of education in higher education management and leadership in 2010.
Andrea Fricks
Fricks is the campus director and chief campus administrator of the Delta Career Education Corporation's Columbus branch, a for-profit higher education institute. She is currently a candidate for a doctorate of education in organizational leadership at Grand Canyon University, a for-profit Christian research university in Phoenix.
James Lentini
He is a professor of music and the senior vice president for Academic Affairs and Provost at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. He was the dean of the College of Creative Arts at Miami University from 2007 to 2013. He received his doctorate in music composition from the University of Southern California in 1990.
Mitchell Levy
Levy is the vice president of Student Affairs at the Atlantic Cape Community College in Mays Landing, New Jersey. He is also the dean of students of that university's Cape May County campus. He received his doctorate in counseling psychology and human systems from Florida State University in 1988.
