Western Illinois University’s search for a new president is approximately one month ahead of the schedule Eastern’s Presidential Search Committee has set, but the co-chair of Western’s search committee said the universities may be reviewing some of the same candidates.

“I imagine there would be some overlap in applicants,” Tom Joswick said, taking into consideration that both universities are located in rural settings and have similar on-campus enrollment numbers, with Western’s Macomb campus hosting approximately 10,600 students and Eastern’s on-campus numbers at approximately 9,800.

Western’s schedule is to announce the university’s new president in March, while Eastern timeline has a new president being announced in April.

Joswick, an English professor, who also serves as chair of Western’s Faculty Senate, said his university’s search committee has already run a position advertisement in The Chronicle of Higher Education and other professional journals, and hopes to conduct preliminary interviews during the month of January.

Eastern’s search committee, chaired by Board of Trustees member Robert Manion, plans to advertise the position in The Chronicle this month and begin conducting preliminary interviews in February.

Timeline(cq) aside, there are several other differences between Eastern’s and Western’s searches.The two search committee’s differ in structure and size.

Eastern’s committee is composed of 11 representatives including, four BOT representatives, three faculty members, an administrative representative, a staff member, a student representative and an Alumni Association representative.

With 20 members and 17 alternates Western’s committee is larger than Eastern’s. It has two co-chairs with Zack Stamp, a member of Western’s Board of Trustees, serving along side Joswick. The remaining 18 members represent different constituencies including representatives of the staff, alumni, students, deans, department chairs and the

of Macomb, with the mayor serving on the committee.

“It’s perhaps a little more difficult to coordinate with that large of group,” Joswick said, noting that Western’s committee may better represent campus constituencies. “Democracy can be messy and we’re enjoying it.”

Although Eastern’s search committee is almost half the size of Western’s, it has twice as many BOT representatives (four) as Western’s committee (two). Seven members of Western’s committee are faculty members with six of those faculty representing Western’s Macomb campus and one faculty member representing Western’s Quad Cities campus.

Unlike Eastern’s committee selection process, the faculty members of Western’s search committee were chosen completely by their peers. One faculty member was elected from each of Western’s four colleges and a fifth was elected from the university’s library.

An at-large faculty member was selected by Joswick, the Faculty Senate chair, and the final member was chosen by faculty from the Quad Cities campus.

At Eastern, the Faculty Senate selected six potential faculty members to serve on the committee and the four BOT members on the search committee selected three of those faculty members to serve on the committee.

Both universities are using an executive search firm to aid in the selection process. While Western hired a firm, Witt/Kieffer of Oak Brook in September, Eastern’s search committee plans to interview three firms this Wednesday.

Western’s committee has asked that in order to receive full consideration, applicants submit credentials by Nov. 15. However, Joswick said qualified applicants would be considered until the position is filled. Eastern’s committee has set Jan. 7 as the date in which candidates should submit applications.

Both committees also plan to interview approximately 10 to 12 preliminary candidates and then narrow the applicant pool to three-to-five on-campus interviews.