Over the past weeks Calumet College of St. Joseph has hosted three candidates for our universities new president.

A final decision will not be released to the public until 2017.

All of these candidates have numerous accomplishments under their belts and have gone through a rigorous application process as described by our Student Body Presidents Luke Matulewicz,

“The process of picking Dr. Lowery’s successor has been a great experience. We, the Presidential Search Committee, started by looking through about 60 resumes of incredible people.

We then narrowed our pool down to eight candidates that we met off-campus for face-to-face interviews each lasting an hour and a half. The hard decision was then made on which three candidates move to the next level.

Dr. Amy McCormack, Dr. Gary Brown, and Dr. Tim Collins were the ones chosen to be invited to campus to allow the search committee to meet with them further and for the college family to also give us their input.

By now, the committee has reviewed all the surveys completed after each candidate visited and have made their recommendation to the Board of Trustees.

The Board then reviews our recommendation and makes the final decision. I had the great pleasure of being a part of this process because the Board of Trustees values the input of students.”

The three finalist were brought to CCSJ for student forums. The student body was given a bio for each candidate in brief here are our top three:

As was stated in Dr. Tim Collins’ biography, he currently serves as the Chief Government Relations Officer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, a position he has held since 2014. Before joining the APL, Dr. Collins served in the United States Air Force for over 20 years, eventually becoming a Senior Officer in 1997. Dr. Collins has also taught both graduate and undergraduate studies. He is also involved in several Catholic organizations.

As was stated in Dr. Amy McCormack’s biography, she Dr. Amy McCormack currently serves as the Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration at Dominican University, a Catholic, Hispanic-serving Institution in River Forest, IL, a position she has held since 2006. At Dominican University she has provided leadership for the strategic growth of the University’s campus living as well as founding and co-directing an international living and learning pilot program.

As was stated in Dr. Gary Brown’s biography, he Dr. Gary Brown has served at Mercyhurst University for more than 27 years in a number of cabinet-level roles and currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Mercyhurst University North East, a Catholic, two-year, career-centered opportunity college. He has held this position since 2014. In addition to this position, he has served in many leadership roles in universities as well as overseeing major construction projects, including the building of student townhouses and a freshman residence hall at North East.

As the students of CCSJ, our board and administration value our input as Luke mentioned before. It is possible for us, the students, to have a say in our future alma mater.

Stay informed with the happenings of our school. Surround yourself with accurate information and give yourself a say, not only in our University but in all aspects of your life.

Give good reason and voice your opinion.