Recruitment of the MnSCU chief begins

We finally have a look at the 16 people who will help the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system find the replacement for Chancellor James H. McCormick, who is retiring next year after a decade in the position.

The people announced today are:

• Travis Johnson, president of the Minnesota State College Student Association;

• Andrew Spaeth, state chair of the Minnesota State University Student Association;

• Don Larsson, president of the Inter Faculty Organization, which represents faculty at the system’s seven state universities;

• Greg Mulcahy, president of the Minnesota State College Faculty, which represents faculty at the system’s 25 community and technical colleges;

• Shahzad Ahmad, past president of the Minnesota State University Association of Administrative and Service Faculty, which represents administrative and service faculty;

• Clarence Hightower, trustee and vice chair of the board and chair of the board’s Human Resources Committee;

• Christine Rice, trustee and chair of the board’s Academic and Student Affairs Committee;

• Kevin Kopischke, president of Alexandria Technical and Community College;

• Edna Mora Szymanski, president of Minnesota State University Moorhead;

• Carlos Mariani, DFL-St. Paul, state representative and chair of the House K-12 Education Policy and Oversight Committee;

• Claire Robling, R-Jordan, state senator and ranking minority member of the Senate Higher Education Committee;

• Sharon Sayles Belton, vice president, community relations and government affairs for Thomson Reuters and former mayor of Minneapolis;

• Yvonne Cheung Ho, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Economic Development Association;

• Mark Chronister, board chair, St. Catherine University and board chair of the Minneapolis Foundation; and

• Paula Prahl, senior vice president of communications, public affairs and corporate responsibility, Best Buy Co., Inc.

Leading the committee is David Olson, a former trustee and former chairman of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.

Trustees also started talking today about the characteristics it's looking for in the next chancellor.

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