“Change is inevitable – except from a vending machine,” Robert C. Gallagher once said. While change may be difficult and unwanted, it is, like Gallagher said, inevitable. So while everyone will certainly miss President Griffin here at Presbyterian College, the search for a new president is well under way.

According to PC student Patrick Kennedy, who was one of the selected few to be on the search committee for the new president, “right now we’re looking over all of the candidates we’ve received and reviewing all their materials; over the next few weeks we will be selecting some of the candidates who stand out the most to invite for interviews, and then from there we will continue to narrow down the field of prospective presidents.”

From what Kennedy said, it is evident the search committee is trying their best to find a new President suitable enough for Presbyterian College. But will they have one in time for the new school year? “Our goal is to install the next president by the beginning of the summer term, so he or she will have as much time as possible to take the reins before the rush of the academic year begins,” Kennedy said. That is definitely the best option, because the new president will surely need to get acclimated to life here at PC before all the students come back.

While the job of finding a new president is not easy, it is apparent the members of the search committee are trying to make the job as painless as possible for the new president. I’m sure some of you are wondering what qualities entail becoming the new president of PC. According to Kennedy, the search committee members are “looking at a variety of qualities in the next president” including “leadership and management experience, ability to manage complex financial matters, communication and relationship building abilities, and commitment to PC’s faith and core values.” These are traits that I am sure the whole PC community hopes that the next president will embody.

As for the difficulty of the search, Kennedy admitted it has been both easy and at the same time, tough. The search has been good because he has “certainly loved working with the other search committee members; it’s great to see how such a diverse group of people can have such a shared love of commitment to providing the very best options for the college.” The only reason the search has been slightly difficult is because they have had so many great candidates! But like Kennedy said: “of course, I would rather have too many qualified candidates than too few!” I am sure the members of the search committee will pick the best president for Presbyterian College.