Green Mountain College

First in Sustainability

Archives for January 2016

Presidential Search Committee Reports on Progress

Note: Below is a message to the GMC community from the presidential search committee reporting progress on the College’s ongoing presidential search.

As the spring semester starts, it is our pleasure to provide the Green Mountain College community with an update on the search for our next president.

From the beginning, our Board of Trustees sought to have a presidential search process that was as inclusive as possible.  We have followed what are considered to be best practices at private colleges.  To recap our work thus far, here are a few of our major milestones:

Search firm selection. The Search Committee was charged with the task of identifying candidates for Board consideration. The first step was to engage the services of Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates, an executive search firm specializing in higher education executive recruitment. Storbeck is one of the leaders in the field and we have been working with them and following their advice on how to find the best presidential candidates for our College.

Search committee composition. The Board aimed for a Presidential Search Committee that was representative of all of the College’s stakeholders, including faculty, staff, students, alumni, parents, and trustees.  Accordingly, our Search Committee includes six trustees (three of whom are alumni/ae), two faculty members and two staff members, selected by their peers, and the elected student government president, all of whom are passionate advocate for the College’s mission and potential.  The Committee has been working collaboratively on all issues and has been making good progress.

Listening sessions. This fall, our consultant from Storbeck conducted extensive listening sessions and interviews with College stakeholders: full- and part-time faculty, students, staff, members of the Board of Trustees, and the cabinet. In addition, a community-wide electronic survey asked what background, qualities, and abilities should characterize our next president and what would be the major issues that person would be confronting.  Many thoughtful comments were also received via the presidential search website.  Several key themes emerged from these conversations, which were most helpful to the Committee’s drafting of the position profile.

Position profile. Based on the input from all stakeholders, the Committee then undertook the task of writing a position profile, which describes the challenges and opportunities facing the College and the qualities we seek in a person to move the College forward. The Position Profile is posted on the College’s website at GMC Presidential Search. http://www.greenmtn.edu/about/leadership/green-mountain-college-presidential-search/

Recruiting. Our search firm reached out to its extensive network of educational and other leaders to solicit nominations and to recruit candidates.  Members of the College community were also encouraged to suggest names or make formal nominations.  We have been very pleased with the response to this opportunity, which resulted in a robust candidate pool.

Review of applications and initial interviews. The Committee has been reviewing candidates and selecting candidates for interviews to be conducted over the winter.  Based on the talented candidates participating in our search, we have every confidence that we will find the right person to lead the College into the future.

Conclusion. We want to assure members of the Green Mountain College community that the Search Committee has been working diligently and that the search is on track and going well.

We look forward to providing you with further information about the search later this winter. In the meantime, we encourage you to continue sharing your thoughts and feedback with us confidentially via the presidential search website.

Sincerely,

Bob Charlebois and Deborah Granquist                                                                        Co-Chairs of the Green Mountain College Presidential Search Committee

Presidential Search Committee Members

Robert Charlebois, Co-Chair, Trustee

Deborah Granquist, Co-Chair, Trustee

Dan DeClercq MBA ‘14, Trustee

Robert Ebling III, Trustee

Perez Ehrich, Trustee

Anna Whitcomb Knight ‘71, Trustee 

Catherine Villafranco Parker ‘87, Trustee

Natalie Coe, Faculty

John Van Hoesen, Faculty

Ryan Ihrke, Staff

Paul Millette, Staff

Antoine Lucic, Student

 

Guess How Many Dragonflies are Native to Vermont?

Mike Blust, professor emeritus and research associate for GMC, recently published “The Odonata of Vermont” with co-author Bryan Pfeiffer in the Bulletin of Odonatology (Volume 11, Number 3-4, November 2015). It is a profile of the diversity and distribution of the 142 species of dragonflies and damselflies found in Vermont. Much of the information in the monograph has also been used as part of the Vermont Center for Ecostudies’ Vermont Atlas of Life project.

 

MSES Grad Introduces Food Entrepreneurs

The products on your supermarket shelves may have traveled thousands of miles to get there, consuming fossil fuels and resulting in food waste along the way. By keeping things local, regional food hubs eliminate steps between a farmer’s field and consumer’s fridge, says Dan Sullivan, a graduate of the MSES program who helped pioneer the MSFS program. Dan is an environmental journalist who writes about the importance of food hubs in this Modern Farming magazine article.

Attend the Vermont Climate Economy Summit

Registration is open to attend the Vermont Climate Economy Summit: IDEAS to ACTION at Vermont Technical College in Randolph, Vt. on February 22. Participants will network with other students, state representatives, and business leaders and review a platform developed by the Vermont Climate Change Economy Council and consider action to create jobs, build national reputation, and attract young people to Vermont. Free registration is available for a limited number of students on a first-come first-serve basis. View the website (http://vtrural.org/summit16) for more details and register. Please contact Ryan Ihrke in the sustainability office at ihrker@greenmtn.edu if you plan on attending to help with travel coordination.

Stone Valley Arts Hosts Literary Open Mike

The Fourth Friday Literary Open Mic event in the Meetinghouse will be held from 7-9 p.m. Friday, January 29. Poets, storytellers and spoken word artists in all genres are invited to perform their own original pieces or other favorites. It’s like having NPR’s “The Moth” story hour here in Poultney! Come and read or just to be entertained by the spoken word. Free and open to public. Questions? Contact davidmook@aol.com, 802 -884-8052.

Three Countries, Three Exhibitions for GMC Photographer

The photographs of prof. Kevin Bubriski (fine arts) appear in three different shows, in three different countries this winter. The Nepal Earthquake Summit, sponsored by The John Sloan Dickey Center at Dartmouth College, focuses on the response to the April 2015 earthquake in Nepal. 
Kevin will co-host “Round Table Discussion: Narratives of Disaster” from 5-6 p.m. on February 18 at the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth where some of his photos are on display. Kevin is also a featured artists in the group show “Anonymous: Urban Life in Contemporary Photography” at the Musée d’Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland, January 27-May 1. The exhibition explores the expression of individuality in often impersonal urban settings. Finally, Kevin is also exhibiting as part of “Point of View: Photographs Inspired by the Canadian Rockies” at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff, Alberta, Canada, from January 30-March 27.

Getting Your Hands Dirty: Smart Move!

Marathon sessions in the library to complete a term paper. Late nights in the computer lab to finish a big project. These are rites of passage for all college students. But many GMC programs lead students outdoors, where the natural surroundings serve as living labs for inquiry and skill building. GMC’s outdoor adventure program, for instance, is nationally recognized for equipping students with in-depth environmental knowledge while teaching outdoor and extreme sports-related proficiencies. It’s a “get your hands dirty” major that prepares students for careers working with people in outdoor settings. Online Schools Center picks GMC’s adventure education program as a top choice.

MSES Grad Introduces Food Entrepreneurs

The products on your supermarket shelves may have traveled thousands of miles to get there, consuming fossil fuels and resulting in food waste along the way. By keeping things local, regional food hubs eliminate steps between a farmer’s field and consumer’s fridge, says Dan Sullivan, a graduate of the MSES program who helped pioneer the MSFS program. Dan is an environmental journalist who writes about the importance of food hubs in this Modern Farming magazine article.

“Terminal Gravity: The Sammy C Project” Showing Thursday

There’s no denying that Sammy Carlson is one of the most dynamic skiers in the game. The Oregon-native has bagged numerous X Games medals—including three-consecutive Real Ski Backcountry golds—and has produced some of the most impressive film segments our sport has ever witnessed. For the past few seasons, Carlson, Teton Gravity Research (TGR) and friends have been traveling the globe in search of soft landings, gigantic jumps and creative features to be featured in the 2015 film dubbed The Sammy C Project. Watch it on a big screen in the East Room,Thursday, January 28, from 6:30-9 p.m. Free, open to all!

Auditions for Mainstage Theater Production!

Auditions for the spring mainstage production “Moon Over Buffalo” will be held Wednesday, January 27 from 3:30-5 p.m. in Ackley Auditorium. No prior experience necessary! Come prepared to share a joke or anecdote. Written in 1995 by Ken Ludwig, “Moon Over Buffalo” is a witty physically demanding farcical comedy, in which timing is everything. The New York Post calls the script, “Hilarious… building up its laughs methodically shtick by shtick… Ludwig stuffs his play with comic invention, running gags … and a neat sense of absurdity.” Performance dates are Thursday, April 7 through Saturday, April 9. Contact director Ben Jankowski with any questions at: jankowskiben2@greenmtn.edu

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