The search committee charged with finding candidates to serve as Mitchell Hamline’s next president and dean has hired a consulting firm to assist with the process.
The school will be working with Witt/Kieffer, an Oak Brook, Illinois-based executive search firm with a particular focus on higher education. Leading the process for Witt/Kieffer is Werner Boel, an experienced and successful law school dean search consultant who has personally conducted more than 30 law dean searches.
“Witt/Kieffer stood out not just for their track record but for their commitment and demonstrated success at putting together a diverse and qualified pool of candidates for law dean positions,” said Frank Harris, vice chair of Mitchell Hamline’s board of trustees and head of the search committee. “We’re thrilled to be working with Witt/Kieffer and Werner Boel.”
Boel is expected to be on campus in the upcoming weeks to meet with campus stakeholder groups about what they are seeking in a new president and dean. He will also assist in putting together a web page on the Mitchell Hamline site that will include the latest developments in the search process as well as important information about the school and application instructions for prospective candidates.
The board of trustees appointed the 12-member search committee in April. That group has hosted listening sessions with students, faculty members, administrators, and staff. Additional listening sessions will include alumni, adjunct faculty, and board members.
The search is expected to take until at least the end of 2019. The new president and dean would start July 1, 2020.
Through the end of June 2019, leadership of the school remains in the hands of President and Dean Mark C. Gordon. At that point, Dean Gordon will begin a one-year sabbatical, after which he plans to return to Mitchell Hamline as a tenured professor of law.
Professor Peter B. Knapp, currently associate dean for academic affairs, will lead the school on an interim basis from July 1, 2019, to July 1, 2020, and will not be a candidate in the dean search.
Learn more about the search timeline and read bios of the search committee members.
To offer input on the search process, email deansearch@mitchellhamline.edu. While your comments are vitally important to the committee, you may not receive a personalized response.