OPEN LETTER TO CAMPUS COMMUNITY

April 21, 2008

To the Students, Faculty, Staff and Friends of Western Washington University:

I am writing to update you on the status of the activities of the Board of Trustees (“Board”) related to the presidential search process.

First, on behalf of the Board, I want to express my deepest appreciation to the Presidential Search Advisory Committee (“Committee”) and its Chair, Phil Sharpe, for the remarkable job they did. The Committee worked incredibly hard over many months, and the advice the Committee forwarded to the Board was extremely insightful and helpful.

Of the 53 candidate applications forwarded to the Board, the Committee recommended we take an especially close look at five candidates. As part of our review of all applications, the Board conducted interviews of the five candidates highlighted for us by the Committee. All five are sitting and successful presidents or chancellors at other higher education institutions, and any one of them could be a strong and successful president at Western.

The next step in this process is to determine whether the Board is prepared to act to identify a preferred candidate for the Western presidency.  Accordingly, the Board is scheduling a special meeting for this Wednesday, April 23rd, beginning at 10:00 AM.  At that time, I expect the Board to identify a preferred candidate and invite that candidate to be with us on campus on Thursday and Friday, April 24th and April 25th.  The candidate would meet with campus leaders and participate in open campus events on Thursday from 4:00 to 6:00 PM, and again on Friday from 8:00 to 9:45 AM. While obviously still contingent, these events would be good opportunities for the campus to meet the candidate, and also for the candidate to meet all of us.

With the expectation that the Board may wish to take further action in connection with a preferred candidate, the Board has scheduled a second special meeting for Friday, April 25th, beginning at 1:00 PM.  At this second meeting, the Board may name that candidate as the next President of Western Washington University and authorize the execution of a satisfactory employment agreement.

While it is not completely clear how this week will unfold, the Board wanted to share this update with you now. We are excited about the search process, and know you are interested in an early opportunity to meet a candidate who may be our next president. Please pencil in the dates and times listed above, and we will keep you posted on our progress this week.

Sincerely,

Kevin Raymond, Chair
Board of Trustees