SHEPHERDSTOWN – A presidential search committee at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, has selected Shepherd University President Dr. Suzanne Shipley as a finalist for their vacant president position, according to a statement from Shipley and MSU’s website.
“As you may have heard, I have been selected as a finalist in a presidential search at a sister COPLAC institution,” Shipley said Monday in an email to staff. “The university is similar in many respects to Shepherd, but provides the added advantage of offering close proximity to both the Wadsworth and Shipley families.”
Calls to Shipley’s office were directed to university communications and were not returned at press time.
Shipley is the first candidate visiting the university Monday, Feb. 23, according to a published candidate forum. Separate forums were scheduled for Shipley to meet with students and faculty. In addition to meeting with students, faculty and staff, she also visited with alumni and the community.
“Following the candidates on-campus activities and individual interviews before the Board of Regents, it is anticipated that a finalist or finalists will be selected at a posted public meeting of the Board of Regents in early March,” Shawn Hessing, chair of the university’s Board of Regents said in a press release.
According to Hessing, the board will name the next president of Midwestern University after a state law requiring a 21-day notice expires.
“It will be several weeks before I know the outcome of my visit to Midwestern but when I do, I will issue a statement,” Shipley said. “I appreciate the ongoing understanding and support of the Shepherd University community.”
Shipley said she is moving forward with mixed feelings, noting she had a “love for Shepherd and a desire to serve yet another leading COPLAC university.”
Shipley became Shepherd’s 15th president in 2007. She received her bachelors and masters degrees from Texas Tech University. She was born and raised in the Texas panhandle, according to her biography.
Midwestern University was established in 1922 in the Oklahoma City and Dallas/Fort Worth area with a student population of nearly 6,000, according to their website. The university is the only university in Texas to become a member the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. Additionally, the university offers special tuition for U.S. non-state resident rates that was recognized in a U.S. News and Word Reports list of “10 Public Schools with the Cheapest Out-of-State Tuition.“
The candidate search began in September 2014.
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