By Becca Clemons

Those who want to be involved in the search for UK’s 12th president will get a chance Friday to voice their opinions.

Open forums will be held in the William T. Young Library Auditorium (room I-62) at different times throughout the day for students, faculty and staff and administration.

“The forums provide a concrete, direct way for the search committee to receive feedback from students, faculty and staff,” Board of Trustees Chair Britt Brockman, also the ex-officio member of the search committee, said in an e-mail to the Kernel. “We want to hear what attributes and characteristics they are looking for in UK’s 12th president, particularly as we look to build upon the outstanding leadership and work of President [Lee] Todd.”

Presidential Search Committee Chair Jim Stuckert said in an e-mail to the Kernel that these types of forums are very important to the search process.

“Having served on the last presidential search, I can tell you the feedback we received on campus and throughout the state really helped us as we began to evaluate the pool of candidates and applicants,” Stuckert said. “We were able to hear firsthand some of the concerns, the needs and the hopes that people on campus and throughout the Commonwealth had for their flagship university.”

“No one knows the campus, in all its diversity and complexity, better than students, faculty and staff,” Brockman said. He said hearing directly from the people most impacted by a new president is “a critically important opportunity” for the search committee.

There will be a moderator at the forums to keep them running smoothly and make sure everyone has an opportunity to ask questions, Brockman said. The entire search committee will attend to receive feedback that will be used in evaluating presidential candidates, he said.

Brockman hopes that the forums will be “informal and free-wheeling” in structure.

“At the end of the day, it’s also important that the entire campus, as much as possible, feels like the voices of everyone are heard in this process.” Stuckert said. “These forums are one more way – an important way – to ensure that feedback and input are provided in a timely and useful way.

“What’s exciting this time is that with technology we’ll be able to offer the opportunity for feedback to the entire campus.”

Each forum will be streamed live on UKNow, at http://www.uky.edu/uknow, and Twitter updates will be given with the hash tag #search4UKpres. Additionally, questions can be submitted via e-mail, on Friday only, to [email protected] for those unable to attend the forums in person.

Stuckert also encouraged the community in a campus-wide e-mail to “Like” the official UK Presidential Search Facebook Page, www.facebook.com/UKPresidentialSearch, to receive up-to-date information about the search.

The faculty forum will be from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m., the student forum from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., and the staff and administration forum from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

The Presidential Search Committee will meet after the forums, at 2:30 p.m Friday.