NDSU Provost J. Bruce Rafert has announced the membership of the search committee for the next Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Information Technology. The selection will succeed Bonnie Neas, who has announced her planned retirement.
“This is a critically important search,” Rafert said in a letter to committee members. “Ideally, I would like to have the vice president identified so she or he can assume office on or before July 1, 2012.”
Kevin McCaul, dean of the College of Science and Mathematics, is set to chair the 13-member committee.
“We are moving ahead fairly rapidly to try and attract nationally-competitive applicants,” McCaul said. “The search committee believes we are in an excellent position given the last decade of successes at the university and, more generally, the financial health of North Dakota. We plan to recruit diligently for the next six to seven weeks, to interview a group of candidates before Thanksgiving and to bring back three or four of the best applicants for lengthier on-campus interviews before Christmas. We hope that the new year will bring NDSU and information technology a strong vice president and chief information officer.”
Committee members include Jean Ostrom-Blonigen, assistant vice president for Information Technology Services; Galen Mayfield, executive director for Enterprise Computing and Application Development; Vance Gerchak, director of Telecommunications and Emergency Support Technologies; Chris Nelson, Student Government information technology commissioner; Kalpana Katti, University Distinguished Professor of civil engineering; Tom Stone Carlson, associate professor of human development and family science; Richard Rathge, professor of sociology and agribusiness and applied economics; Holly Bastow-Shoop, professor of apparel, design and hospitality management; Wendy Clarin, manager of Bison Connection and Bison Card; Randall Thursby, North Dakota University System CIO; Cheri Schoenfish, director of human resources for Microsoft; and Lisa Feldner, CIO of the North Dakota Information Technology Department in Bismarck, N.D.
Rafert has asked Garry Owens of the consulting firm AGB Search to provide assistance in the search effort.
Neas has served as vice president for information technology since 2007, when the position was first established. She has worked at NDSU since 1984, first as manager of User Services at NDSU’s Computer Center.