Dear Starr King Community,
I am excited to share with you an update about the next chapter at Starr King School for the Ministry.
In August and September, the Board of Trustees gathered input from throughout the Starr King community to help inform the building blocks of presidential search process, specifically around the charge to the search committee, the composition of the search committee, and other important aspects of the process. Over the past several weeks, we have analyzed that input and have made several decisions about the search.
The Board has formally established a search committee to lead the work of finding the next president of Starr King. As I shared in September, we wanted to ensure that the search committee represented a variety of perspectives from across the life of the school and the wider world. Today, I am pleased to share that our search committee does exactly that – bringing together perspectives from our student body, our faculty, our staff, the wider UU and multi-religious communities, and other higher education institutions.
The search committee is currently composed of the following members:
• Linda Laskowski (Chair)
• Rev. Dianne Daniels
• Richael Faithful
• Rev. Dr. Matta Ghaly
• Kellie Kinsman
• Dr. Kat Liu
• Rev. Dr. Sheri Prud’homme
• Rev. Dr. Chris Schelin
In the coming weeks, the search committee will begin meeting regularly to advance the work of the search process.
Beyond composing the committee, we have also made decisions about the search process itself. In addition to the input we received from our community, we have also met with outside leaders and experts in higher education to understand best practices and methods of structuring effective search processes. Based all these conversations, we have developed a process and a tentative timeline for our search.
It was vitally important to all of us on the Board that the search committee’s work be informed by the collective wisdom of the Starr King community. Therefore, the first step in the search process will be a series of listening sessions with various parts of the Starr King community. These listening sessions are opportunities for members of this community to share their hopes, dreams, concerns, and ideas about the next president of our beloved school. Specifically, we want to hear from our community about what attributes and experiences are most important for the next president of Starr King to have, as well as what the next president should prioritize as they step into this role. This will be the final round of input from the Starr King community, and it will fundamentally shape the search materials, strategy, and focus of the search committee. Stay tuned for more information in the next few days about these listening sessions.
Following the listening sessions, the search committee will create the materials necessary to formally launch the search in the first week of January 2025. The committee will reach out to candidates through most of January and February, with the intent of interviewing semi-finalists in March. The search committee will then present finalist candidates to the Board. The Board will conduct interviews with finalist candidates and then select the best candidate for the role. Our current president and ex-officio Board member, Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt, will not participate in those finalist interviews nor the decision-making process that will follow. Candidates’ identities will remain confidential throughout the process, and the board will make a final decision without public feedback on finalist candidates in order to protect confidentiality. You can view the current timeline of the search process here.
This search process aligns with best practices in theological education. It benefits from high-level visioning and input from across the life of the school. It is rooted in our mission and vision. For all of these reasons, we believe that this process will best enable us to find the best possible candidate for the next president of Starr King.
The search committee will be providing regular updates about their progress as they begin this process. The Board will also continue to communicate with you throughout this academic year as news of the school and search unfold in this time of a changing landscape in religion and higher education.
We know there will be many questions about this search process. We invite you to share those questions either during the upcoming listening sessions or via email to SearchCommittee@sksm.edu. We will share more updates and answer questions about the process during our upcoming board meeting on November 13th.
On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I want to thank everyone again for your patience and support throughout the past several months of discernment. Because of that support and early input, we are confident that we have created the right building blocks to help the search committee lead and execute the right process to find the next president of Starr King.
Sincerely,
Rev. Alison Miller
Chair, Starr King Board of Trustees
