Next Wright State president will likely be a woman or African-American

Wright State’s eighth president will likely be an African-American or a woman. The three finalists for the job are Dennis Shields, Deborah Ford and Cheryl Schrader.

Wright State’s eighth president will likely be an African-American or a woman. The three finalists for the job are Dennis Shields, Deborah Ford and Cheryl Schrader.

If a woman is selected as Wright State University’s next president, she would be the first female president in the college’s 50-year history.

Cheryl Schrader, chancellor of the Missouri University of Science and Technology will visit campus Wednesday. Deborah Ford, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside visited earlier this week. They were two of three finalists selected by the university’s presidential search committee in January.

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Dennis Shields, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville visited last week. If Shields is selected, he would be just the second African-American to serve as president of WSU. The first was Harley E. Flack, who served as president from 1994 to 1998, according to the university.

Doug Fecher, trustee and chairman of the presidential search committee, has said the university was pleased by the “really strong diversity” of the 61 people who applied for the president’s job.

What matters the most though, Fecher said, is that the right candidate is chosen for the job. The three candidates were selected as finalists by a vote of search committee members, Fecher said.

“These three got almost everyone’s vote,” Fecher said. “There was a lot of consensus around these three candidates.”

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