Jan. 25, 2009 — The search for the University of the Virgin Islands' next president is almost over: Over the next few days two finalists will meet with the school's faculty, staff, students, alums and the local community.
The pool was narrowed after months of reviewing applications and reaching out to prospective candidates throughout the mainland and Caribbean. Starting Tuesday, the finalists, Calvin D. Jamison and David Hall, will make visits to UVI's St. Thomas and St. Croix campuses to meet with several campus groups and participate in open forums, according to a UVI news release. Open forums on St. Thomas, held in the first-floor conference room of the Administration and Conference Center, will be open to community members at 2 p.m. Tuesday during Jamison's visit and 2 p.m. Wednesday during Hall's visit.
Community members can also participate in open forums on the St. Croix campus scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday during Jamison's visit and 2 p.m. Thursday during Hall's visit. The forums will take place in the northwest wing of the Great Hall. UVI alumni are invited to meet the candidates at 3:15 p.m. on the days of their respective visits to the islands, according to the release.
The UVI Board of Trustees will meet Friday and Saturday with the two finalists. The board is expected to name the successor to current UVI President LaVerne Ragster early next month.
Jamison currently serves as vice president of business affairs at the University of Texas at Dallas, and is a clinical professor at the School of Economic, Political, and Policy Sciences. Before that, he was the senior vice president and chief administrative officer at Hampton University. He has also served as assistant to the president at Virginia Tech — where he received his bachelor's, master of arts and doctorate — and has held faculty and administrative positions at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Hall currently serves as a law professor at Northeastern University School of Law and has had a distinguished career as an administrator in the law school and at the university, the release says. He was appointed provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Northeastern University in 1998 and served in that capacity for four years.
Before appointment as provost, he was dean of Northeastern's law school, where he spearheaded efforts with experiential learning and social justice. Hall also served as associate dean of academic affairs for the law school and was a tenured professor at the law schools of the University of Mississippi and the University of Oklahoma. Hall has also practiced with the Federal Trade Commission in Chicago and played professional basketball in Italy.
Both finalists were selected by a search committee appointed by the UVI board. The nationally recognized executive search firm Isaacson Miller was also hired to help the search committee recruit and screen candidates for the position. More than 70 applications were received during the search process, and more than 300 educational leaders throughout the mainland and Caribbean were contacted, according to the release.
"We are proud of the work that has been done by the presidential search committee," according to committee co-chair Wesley Williams. "We look forward to introducing the candidates to the university and the community."
Ragster will step down at the end of June after serving for the past seven years as UVI's president.
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