Board of Trustees appoints search firm for new Kean president

By Erin McGuinness | Published by September 20th, 2019

The Kean University Board of Trustees appointed a Pennsylvania firm Monday to open a search to replace controversial President Dawood Farahi, who is stepping down at the end of the school year after 17 years at Kean’s helm. 

The announcement came after an hour-long public meeting at the new Liberty Hall Museum and Academic Center, where several speakers urged an open and transparent search process for a new university leader. 

The trustees did not react to numerous professors who urged the board to include broad campus-wide involvement in the search. The board then went into a closed, private session and upon reopening three hours later approved $150,000 to hire the search firm, Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates. 

The firm and a 13-member search committee were announced to the campus community on Tuesday in a university-wide email as part of Kean News. The Kean News announcement said that Board Chairperson Ada Morell selected the search committee after consulting “various university leaders, stakeholders, and constituents.” The search will begin immediately, according to the announcement.

The committee does not include representatives of any campus unions, according to Kean Federation of Teachers President James Castiglione, a physics professor.

Castiglione told the board on Monday that the KFT, which represents about 400 full-time faculty and professional staff, unanimously passed a resolution last week calling for a collaborative process that includes representatives of all stakeholders at Kean.

The resolution asked that the search be “national in scope; inclusive of all university and community constituencies in the formulation of the search committee, including representation from all campus unions; open and transparent in its processes, and; Conducted with the highest standards of integrity; To ensure its legitimacy.” 

“Selecting Dr. Farahi’s successor will not be easy considering his legacy of outstanding accomplishments here at Kean,” Morell said in Kean News. “But we are eager to begin a collaborative process and are confident it will result in finding a new president who will continue to move the University forward.”    

A presidential search page has been created on the Kean University website to list updates in the process. The committee will provide opportunities for campus constituencies and organizations to share recommendations, according to Kean News.  

“The search firm works under the direction of Kean’s search committee,” said Margaret McCorry, director of media relations for the university. “The committee will develop a profile for the position and a timeline for the search process.”

The American Association of University Professors, on its website, offers a checklist for the composition of a search committee. 

“In a joint committee, the numbers from each constituency should reflect both the primacy of faculty concern and the range of other groups, including students, that have a legitimate claim to some involvement,” according to the AAUP.

The committee is chaired by Morrell and includes: two students: Kristin Failla, a graduate student, and Deshawn Reed, an undergraduate;  Consuelo A. Bonillas, professor in the School of Health and Human Performance and Claire Mulry, assistant professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy; Patricia Barksdale, a wealth management advisor for Merrill Lynch; Thomas J. Bistocchi, secretary of the Board of Trustees; Michael D’Agostino, vice-chair of the Board of Trustees; Steve Fastook, Kean trustee and board chair of Kean University Foundation; Abby Gallego, Kean alumnae; Dave Gibbons, Kean trustee; Linda Lewis, Kean trustee; Ed Oatman, Kean trustee; and John Turner, CEO of Corporate Synergies Group.

State Senator Joseph Cryan (D-Union), a frequent critic of the Farahi administration, said he hopes the search for a new president is thorough. 

“I hope that there is a focus on somebody who sees that it is a new day for the university and focuses on student outcomes, student achievement, and appreciates the faculty and people that make up the university,” Cryan said. 

The board on Monday also approved a five percent salary increase (about $16,000) for Farahi. In April 2018, Farahi’s salary was listed at $314,773, bringing his annual salary to approximately $330,511. The increase is retroactive to July 2019. 

At the end of the school year, Farahi will be taking a one-year, paid sabbatical that includes his annual salary, according to his compensation agreement.

“After his sabbatical period, the President shall have the option to return to a position on the Kean University faculty as Distinguished Professor in Public Administration at the top salary range for that title,” according to the agreement. 

As his career comes full circle, Farahi as a professor would once again be represented by the KFT,  the union he has contested throughout his career as president. 

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