COLLEGEVILLE \u2014 St. John\u2019s University has hired a search firm to help find its next president, and for the first time the pool of candidates could include someone who isn\u2019t a member of the monastery.<\/p>\n
Academic Search Inc. will assist in the search to find the successor to the Rev. Robert Koopmann, who is retiring. The goal is to have Koopmann\u2019s replacement selected by March; that person will start their job next summer.<\/p>\n
Koopmann became president of St. John\u2019s University in July 2009, replacing interim President Dan Whalen, who stepped in when Brother Dietrich Reinhart unexpectedly announced his retirement due to health reasons.<\/p>\n
The presidential search committee will be assisted by Jacqueline Doud and Maya Ranchod Kirkhope of Academic Search Inc.<\/p>\n
And that search will be different this time. In the past, all candidates for the job have come from the monastery.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an open search,\u201d Abbot John Klassen said. \u201cThere\u2019s still a Benedictine preference. That is, if we have a monk candidate who is a strong candidate and the search committee feels that this individual is going to be a strong candidate, that person would most likely be brought forward. But we are looking broadly and nationally.\u201d<\/p>\n
All three finalists for the job when Koopmann was selected were members of the monastery. And although St. John\u2019s didn\u2019t have a policy that required the president to be a member of the monastery, that\u2019s how it worked out, Klassen said.<\/p>\n
There were no changes in university bylaws to allow for a non-monastery member to become president, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been our practice, but our bylaws have never required that the president be a monk,\u201d Klassen said.<\/p>\n
He said he thought there would be a candidate or candidates from the monastery.<\/p>\n