With Youngstown State University’s President, Jim Tressel, retiring at the end of January, the question of who will take his place persists.
It has been stated there will be an interim president for the time being after Tressel’s leave. An interim president is someone who will hold the position until someone else is found for it.
While it is hard to adapt to someone leaving their workplace, there is usually a process for quickly getting everything back on track. This includes interviews, reviewing the qualifications for the position and more.
Having an interim president does not always mean the person with the title is only a placeholder. There is a chance for the interim president to be hired as the full-time president for the college and use this time as a training period.
Leaving an interim president in place of an actual president may not be the best for YSU, however. With the amount of time between Tressel’s announcement and Jan. 31, there could have been enough time to find someone who fits the role of a full-time president.
This leaves students to question what will happen to the university and what important decisions the board of trustees needs to make to find someone. While students can listen in on board of trustee meetings, they may not fully understand the terms used. Making a public statement to students to keep them in the loop may help with students’ uncertainty of not having Tressel as a president.
This also leads to questions of whether the university should be making drastic changes regarding renovations and construction around the university and decreasing faculty numbers. What if everything Tressel wants to accomplish and address is not finalized before his leave, leaving all decisions to the interim alone?
Worry of whether the students and residents of Youngstown will approve of the interim, and eventually, the new president is also a major concern the university will face. Tressel is a well-known person in Youngstown with some believing no one will compare to him.
With only having someone hold the place of his job, the search for a qualified candidate will continue. There is currently no statement of how long there will be an interim president after Jan. 31.