Office of the Registrar

From: Office of the Board of Trustees

Dear Members of the OSU Community,

I am very happy to share that two finalist candidates to serve as Oregon State University’s next president will visit the OSU Corvallis campus next Monday and Tuesday as part of the presidential search process.

These candidates are Jayathi Y. Murthy, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and Charles R. Martinez, Jr., dean of the College of Education at the University of Texas at Austin.

On Monday, May 23, community conversations with Dean Martinez will be held from 10:30 to 11:15 a.m. and from 1 to 1:45 p.m. in the Memorial Union Journey Room, and a university forum will be held from 3 to 4 p.m. in the MU Horizon Room. The OSU Board of Trustees will interview Dean Martinez in executive session Monday morning at 8 a.m.

On Tuesday, May 24, community conversations with Dean Murthy will be held from 10:30 to 11:15 a.m. and from 1 to 1:45 p.m. in the Memorial Union Journey Room and a university forum will be held from 3 to 4 p.m. in the MU Horizon Room. The OSU Board of Trustees will interview Dean Murthy in executive session Tuesday morning at 8 a.m.

These public community conversations and forums will be held in-person, streamed live and recorded with a link for later viewing available on the presidential search website. The search website also will have a link for OSU community members and stakeholders to provide feedback on candidates.

We are very pleased to have such excellent and highly qualified finalists.

We arrive at this point thanks to the exhaustive work of the presidential search advisory committee, the executive search firm Isaacson, Miller, and the work of the Board of Trustees. Trustees interviewed six candidates and considered four semi-finalist candidates before inviting two finalists to visit OSU’s Corvallis campus.

I also applaud the valuable input provided by university community members and stakeholders via a web survey and during 15 listening sessions regarding what qualities and qualifications OSU’s next president should possess, and what opportunities and challenges face the university in the future.

As I have shared in the past, in addition to OSU’s Office of Human Resources and executive search firm Isaacson, Miller’s due diligence efforts, the Board of Trustees engaged an independent contractor to conduct comprehensive background checks of candidates to be advanced to this phase of the search. This due diligence was a recommendation that came out of a retrospective review of the university’s last presidential search process. Due diligence findings were considered by the board before announcing the two finalist candidates.

We anticipate the board making a final decision on its presidential selection on June 3 or June 7.

Along with other members of the OSU Board of Trustees, I believe we are at a remarkable place in the university’s history. And I see a very bright future ahead for Oregon State University, thanks to the contributions and achievements of OSU students, faculty and staff, and the engagement and support of university alumni, donors and stakeholders.

This significant momentum and impact is being felt throughout Oregon, the nation and the world. And will only grow with the leadership of the university’s next president.

Thank you for your continued interest and involvement in this important process to select the university’s next president.

Sincerely,

Kirk Schueler, Chair, OSU Board of Trustees