Simpson College presidential search continues

Simpson+College+presidential+search+continues

by Grant Rodgers

The search for Simpson College’s next president will continue, as two of the candidates for the position reportedly took jobs at other colleges during the weekend.

The college’s board of trustees was set to make a decision on which candidate it would offer the job to at a meeting Monday morning. However, the board chose not to make an offer to any of the three, said Sunnie Richer, chair of the presidential search committee.

David Bushman, dean of the school of natural science and mathematics at Mount St. Mary’s University, Jim Troha, vice president of institutional advancement and university relations at Heidelberg University and Kent Trachte, dean of the college at Franklin & Marshall College, were all finalists for the position and had visited campus, holding open forums with staff, faculty and students.

The decision to extend the search was announced in an email to campus Monday afternoon.

Richer declined to immediately comment on which candidates had accepted positions at other schools. The information will be available when the candidates finalize contracts with the other schools, she said.

Bushman, Troha and Trachte did not immediately respond to phone calls or emails on Monday afternoon.

Both Richer and Fred Hubbell, chair of the college’s board of trustees, met with the search firm on Monday morning, Richer said in the email. The committee will now go back to look at the original applicants, but will also try to attract new candidates.

The search is expected to be finished by “early winter,” according to the email.