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Chester County Press

Lincoln University continues search for new president

11/29/2016 11:16AM ● By Richard Gaw
By Richard L. Gaw
Staff Writer

In stepping up its efforts to find its 14th president, Lincoln University has announced that it has retained Diversified Search, an executive search firm with offices in nine American cities, including Philadelphia. The announcement was made on Nov. 19 by Kimberly Lloyd, chairperson of the university's board of trustees.
Once named, the new president will assume his or her duties from Dr. Richard Green, who has been serving as the university's interim president since July 2015.
“We are excited to partner with Diversified Search as we seek the next visionary for this historic institution of higher learning,” Lloyd said. “The firm's stellar track record in placing leaders who raise the bar for organizations they serve will bode well for Lincoln University. We embrace the opportunity, with Trustee Terri Dean leading the Presidential Search Committee, to attract and hire a great president who will quicken the growth trajectory that Lincoln University is presently experiencing.”
Since the retirement of Dr. Ivory Nelson at the end of 2011, the office of the presidency at the university has been occupied by three appointments – two of them on an interim level. In January 2012, Dr. Robert R. Jennings was named to succeed Ivory at Lincoln, but no sooner did he arrive on campus, Jennings received a vote of “no-confidence” from alumni and faculty. His turbulent tenure at Lincoln escalated in 2014, after a video surfaced of him addressing a group of female students in a speech that some interpreted as blaming women for sexual assault. The video went viral, drew national outrage, and subsequently pulled Lincoln into the national spotlight of controversy.
Despite a public apology and a pledge that he would be more sensitive, Jennings was forced to resign his post.
Lloyd announced Jennings’ resignation in a letter to students, faculty and staff, and announced that Valerie Harrison, who had been general counsel at the university since 2013, had been named as acting president, while the university would begin the search for a permanent president.
At the university's board of trustees meeting on April 18, 2015, Dr. Richard Green was named as interim president at Lincoln, and began his new job on July 1, a position he still holds. Dr. Green served as interim provost of St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota, in addition to other interim positions at Albany State University in Georgia, National Louis University in Illinois, Alcorn State University in Mississippi and Midland Lutheran College in Nebraska.
Dale E. Jones, Diversified Search's chief executive officer, will lead the search team for Lincoln's new president.
“The university's commitment to excellence in leadership is consistent with our mantra that 'Great Leadership Changes Everything,'” he said. “This national search will be crucial for the next generation of young African-American leaders now in the pipeline awaiting greatness and success.”
To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, e-mail [email protected].