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Presidential Search Committee

Trustees Announce Presidential Search Committee


Presidential Search FY19Date published: Aug. 8, 2018

The University of Dallas Board of Trustees is pleased to share several updates regarding the search for a new university president. Richard Husseini, BS ’88, current vice chair of the board and executive committee member, will chair the search committee for a new university president. Husseini has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from UD and has served as a trustee since 2009.

The full membership of the search committee is as follows:

  • Win Bell, Trustee
  • The Most Reverend Bishop Edward J. Burns, University Chancellor and Bishop of the Diocese of Dallas
  • Barry Clark, Trustee
  • Andrew Farley, BA ’98, Trustee and National Alumni Board President
  • Susan Hanssen, Ph.D., Department Chair and Associate Professor of History
  • Richard Husseini, BS ’88, Trustee
  • William Keffler, Trustee
  • Richard Miller, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Operations Management
  • Randall Muck, Trustee
  • Brian Murray, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Management and former Vice President and CFO
  • Joseph O. Neuhoff Jr., Trustee
  • Terry O’Halloran, MBA ’83, Trustee
  • Joshua Parens, Ph.D., Dean of Braniff Graduate School, Director of the Institute of Philosophic Studies, Director of the Philosophy Ph.D. Program and Professor of Philosophy and Politics
  • Laura Felis Quinn, BS ’86, Trustee
  • Diana Dudoit Raiche, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Catechetics and Pastoral Ministry
  • Mary Ritter, BA ’85, Trustee
  • Paul Rydberg, BA ’88, Trustee
  • Clare Slattery, BA ’19, Student Government President
  • Patrick V. Stark, Trustee
  • Ellen Steinmiller, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Analytical Chemistry
  • Bridgett Wagner, BA ’81, Trustee
  • Matthew Walz, Ph.D., Faculty Senate President, Director of Philosophy and Letters and Pre-Theologian Programs, Department Chair and Associate Professor of Philosophy
  • Julie Weber, BA ’91, Trustee
  • Gerard Wegemer, Ph.D., Professor of English and Director of the Center for St. Thomas More Studies

This committee represents a cross section of the UD community, including trustees, faculty (with each of UD’s four schools represented), an academic dean, a National Alumni Board representative, a member with senior staff experience, and the current student government president. Eight members of the search committee are University of Dallas alumni.

The board has retained Witt/Kieffer, a national search firm with substantial experience in presidential and executive searches in higher education, to assist with the search. Dennis Barden, a senior partner with the firm, will lead the Witt/Kieffer team. Barden has a national reputation for assisting universities in searches with a particular expertise in Catholic higher education. His deep appreciation of our Core curriculum and our professional graduate programs will prove an invaluable resource in assisting the search committee and the board.

The search committee invites the entire UD community to provide feedback for the search process. To that end, a section of the UD website will be established through which regular updates on the search process will be provided. This site will also provide opportunities for you to recommend candidates or offer input on the search process. Details on how to access the site will be available soon.

“This is a significant moment in the history of the University of Dallas, and we are excited about our future. I believe we have assembled an excellent search committee that will find an outstanding individual to be the next president of the University of Dallas,” said Thomas M. Zellers, BA ’79, M.D., chair of the board of trustees.

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