CONSULTANT TO HELP FIND SEMO PRESIDENT

Dr. Allan Ostar describes hiring a university president as a mating dance: a process of finding and then courting the right person to take the job.

Southeast Missouri State University's Board of Regents Friday hired Ostar's firm, Academic Search Consultation Service, to lead its search for a university president.

Academic Search Consultation Service, a not-for-profit organization in Washington, will charge $31,000 to help in the search process, which is expected to take about five months.

Also on Friday, Dr. Bill L. Atchley attended his first regent's meeting as the university's interim president. He officially began the job Sept. 1, and will run the school during the search to hire a permanent president to replace Dr. Kala Stroup. Stroup left Southeast to become Missouri commissioner of higher education.

Atchley, 63, former president of Clemson University and the University of the Pacific, said he isn't interested in the permanent job at Southeast.

Donald Harrison, president of the Board of Regents, said of Ostar, "He is a professional counselor who will guide us step by step through the search process."

Before going to work for Academic Search Consultation Service four years ago, Ostar worked 26 years as president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, a group of about 400 universities similar to Southeast.

Ostar outlined the search process, which starts with selection of a local search committee. Harrison hopes to have the committee in place before the October regent's meeting. The committee will include representatives from such groups as the faculty, staff, students, administrators and alumni.

"We are not headhunters," Ostar said. "We won't go out and bring you a president; the university community has to have ownership."

Once a committee is in place, Ostar and an assistant will be back at Southeast to spend two days talking with various groups about what they think is Southeast's future.

The key to a successful search, Ostar said, is first to determine the direction of the university and then to pick someone to carry that out.

The firm helps set up a process to evaluate resumes and check references. In addition, Ostar and his colleagues will talk with people in education who match Southeast's needs to see if they might be lured to Cape Girardeau.

Eventually, 12 to 15 semifinalists will be narrowed to three to five finalists who will visit the campus, meet with various groups and be interviewed by the Board of Regents.

Ostar said he often hears criticism of universities spending money on consultants. "Getting the wrong president is a hell of a lot more expensive," he said.