Provost Cornelius Kerwin is one of three finalists being considered for the position of president of Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa. Bucknell, a Patriot League rival, has been looking for a new president since current President Steffen H. Rogers announced in May 2003 that he would retire this June.
Kerwin, along with Elaine P. Maimon, vice president of Arizona State University and provost of Arizona State West, and Brian C. Mitchell, president of Washington & Jefferson College, was officially submitted to the Bucknell Board of Trustees yesterday.
"They were advancing all three candidates to the Board of Trustees," said Sharon Poff, director of Communications for Bucknell. "Once they make the decision the position will be offered to the candidate, and they will then go through a period of contract negotiations."
In a press release, Trustee and Search Committee Chair Norman Garrity said, "All three candidates have outstanding qualifications."
After several months, the list of candidates dropped from 50 to three. The committee brought each remaining candidate to Bucknell, where they took part in open forums with the university community. Kerwin spoke in late January with the faculty, staff, students and administration.
The Bucknell Board of Trustees met in closed session Wednesday afternoon to discuss the three candidates. The results were not released and are not expected for at least a week, Poff said.
"It could be a week," Poff said. "It could be 10 days. Somewhere within the next two weeks, we will know for sure."
Kerwin was unavailable for comment.
Members of the AU community have expressed mixed reactions over the possibility of Kerwin leaving.
"He would be a phenomenal president as he is an extraordinary provost," said Nathan Price, special assistant to the provost. "It would be a major hole here at AU if he left, but he has also made a major difference in the almost quarter-century of his time here at AU."
President Benjamin Ladner also expressed the loss AU would feel if Kerwin were to leave.
"First of all, I don't know if he'd take it," Ladner said. "Secondly, if he were to leave, obviously it would create a huge hole. He has been an extraordinar[ily] valuable member of my team, of leading the University."
Ladner commended Kerwin's work on the recent Middle States Self-Study Report and accreditation process in his midyear address in the Kay Spiritual Life Center on Tuesday.
"This whole effort was led by the provost," Ladner said about Kerwin and the Middle States Self-Study in his address. "I want to begin by saying that Neil Kerwin is getting a monkey off his back and breathed a great sigh of relief once [the Middle States evaluation] team left town. He did a splendid job of organizing and directing."
Kerwin has served as provost since Aug. 1, 1998. Previously he served as Dean of the School of Public Affairs from 1989 to 1997 and as a professor of public administration when he returned to the University as a faculty member in 1975. Kerwin received his bachelor's degree from AU in 1971 and went on to receive a master's degree in Political Science from the University of Rhode Island in 1973 and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Johns Hopkins University in 1978.
