Issue: Summer 2013 | Posted: June 5, 2013
Meet the Presidential Search Committee
Several weeks after President David S. Dockery announced his transition from president to chancellor, the executive committee of Union’s Board of Trustees selected nine people to serve on a search committee for a new president.
The committee will meet regularly through the summer and fall to conduct a national search, select finalists and eventually recommend a presidential candidate to the Board of Trustees for final approval.
A formal timetable is difficult to predict, but it is possible a new president could be selected early in 2014 and begin work later that year.
The search committee consists of:
Norman O. Hill, who will
serve as the committee chairman.
Hill is executive director of
Trumbull Labs in Memphis and a
1980 Union graduate.
Carla D. Sanderson, Union’s
provost, executive vice president
for strategic initiatives and
professor of nursing, who will be
the committee’s vice chair and
represent the Union administration
and staff. Sanderson is a 1981
Union graduate.
Harry L. Smith, president of
Schilling Enterprises in Memphis
and former chairman of the Union
Board of Trustees.
Rod Parker, wealth
management adviser for
Northwestern Mutual Life
in Jackson and a 1988 Union
graduate, representing the Union
University Foundation board.
Parker previously served as
chairman of the Union board
and of the Union University
Foundation.
Lisa W. Rogers, a physician
with the Jackson Clinic and a 1983
Union graduate.
Danny Sinquefield, senior
pastor of Faith Baptist Church
in Bartlett, Tenn., and past
president of the Tennessee Baptist
Convention.
James Ross, vice president and
chief operating officer of West
Tennessee Healthcare and a 1987
Union graduate.
Paul Priddy, executive
pastor of Englewood Baptist
Church in Jackson.
C. Ben Mitchell,
Graves Professor of Moral
Philosophy at Union, representing
the Union faculty.
“We deeply appreciate all of the search committee members’ commitment to Union University and their willingness to serve the University in this important way,” said Norman Hill, chairman of Union’s Board of Trustees. “We ask for prayers for the committee as it seeks the Lord’s wisdom and guidance in selecting Union’s 16th president.”
Support search committee with prayer and fasting
Early in the transition process, Trustee Chairman Norman Hill says he was asked repeatedly what could be done to help the search committee. The offers were frequent and genuine.
Hill says he felt led to call for prayer and fasting across the campus.
“Throughout the Bible and church history, God’s people have often rallied in focused times of prayer and fasting for specific needs and purposes,” Hill said. “We ask that you would see the need for a similar effort during such a time as this.”
Hill developed an
idea that involves the
presidential search
website. It’s an online
calendar on which the
Union community can
make an anonymous
commitment to pray and
fast on a specific day. It
can be found at uu.edu/president/search/prayer.
Although no names are displayed, each time someone signs up for a day, that square on the calendar changes color, with darker shades of red representing days on which there will be multiple people praying and fasting.
The effort started after spring break and focused on students, most of whom would be leaving campus at the end of the semester and returning in August. Participation was immediate and covered all the dates in April as well as several in May.
But the commitment calendar is open to anyone who wishes to participate.
“It is impossible to overstate the importance of selecting a new president for the future of this institution that we all cherish,” Hill said. “We need the wisdom, insight and discernment that can only come from the Lord if we are to select God’s person for this significant role and if we are to transition effectively to a new presidential administration.”