The Presidential Search Advisory Committee has established what is considered an aggressive timeline in the quest to select Eastern’s next president by July.

At the first scheduled meeting of the entire committee Monday, committee members were given a first draft of the position description by Robert Manion, the committee’s chair, who is a member of the Board of Trustees and was chosen to lead the committee by the board.

Manion directed the committee members to examine the description, which he drafted by making minor changes to the description used in the search that resulted in the hiring of Eastern’s eighth president, Carol Surles.

Committee members are to submit any topics within the description they would like to discuss to Manion via e-mail by Monday, so a conference call, among committee members and Elaine Massock, university council, can be scheduled for next week if necessary.

Manion said he requested the feedback by Monday, so the position description could be finalized by Oct. 26. The description must be finalized, so the advertisement, which the committee plans to run in The Chronicle of Higher Education, can be finalized and submitted.

“This is considered to be an aggressive timetable by everyone’s standards I’ve talked to,” Manion said.

Part of the aggressive timetable involves the hiring of an outside executive search firm. The university has made a request for proposals and those proposals are due by Friday. Manion said he expects that the university will receive at least 25 proposals, but he would like to have the preferred firm chosen before the committee begins advertising the position.

“I would like to have them on board by Nov. 6 with at least a letter of intent,” he said.

The plan is to run the advertisement in The Chronicle of Higher Education on Nov. 9 and Nov. 16, Manion said. The ad and position description also will be linked to the university’s Web site.

Manion said the committee would allow candidates to submit resumes for two to three weeks after the second ad runs. The soft deadline for resume submissions is tentatively set for Dec. 7.

Massock, who also serves as council for the BOT, will advise the search committee throughout the process. On Monday, she instructed the committee members to be careful not to discuss confidential aspects of the search, which mainly pertain to candidate information.

“Once you have the applications in everything is closed,” she said. “If you want to get the best candidates a lot of the candidates won’t want their institutions knowing they are looking for jobs.”

Manion described the committee’s meeting tentatively scheduled for Nov. 26 as a “key date.” At that meeting the committee will finalize the evaluation criteria to be used to judge the candidates.

Katie Cox, who serves as the student body representative of the committee, asked if personality could be a consideration. Massock said personality traits can be taken into account, but desired traits must be defined before the evaluation process begins.

Manion said he anticipates that the committee will be relatively inactive over the university’s winter break. The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 25. He said the committee will use that day to narrow the applicants to 10 “semi-finalists.”

In February, the committee will meet with the 10 semi-finalists off campus. In early March, two to five candidates will be invited to campus for interview. Manion said the committee will then, in late March, finalize its deliberations and send forward the names of two to five unranked candidates to the BOT. The board has the final decision, but the committee’s goal is to have a new president hired by July 1.