After an ongoing presidential candidate search, the Eastern Michigan University community can plan for a new university president to be identified by the end of the year.
The search comes after EMU’s current president, James Smith, announced his intent to step down from his position at the end of his contract, which expires on June 30, 2026.
At the Oct. 23, 2025, Board of Regents meeting, Regent Anupam Chugh Sidhu, who chairs the Presidential Search Advisory Committee, announced that the university is on track with its timeline for finding a new president.
The 16-person advisory committee, which includes students, faculty, staff and community members, has selected four finalists for the Board of Regents' consideration, Sidhu said.
The Presidential Search Advisory Committee was tasked with offering community input and providing recommendations to the regents. The Presidential Search Committee, composed of the eight members of the EMU Board of Regents, will make the final decision in hiring a new president.
“While I understand there are currently many demands and challenges facing university presidents, the Presidential Search Advisory Committee was enthused by the depth, breadth and diversity of experiences of the more than 100 individuals who applied for the president’s position at EMU,” Sidhu said at the meeting.
Jack Booth, student body president at EMU, sat on the Presidential Search Advisory Committee as a student representative. He spoke with The Eastern Echo about his experience working on the committee.
“What we’ve been able to do as a part of that committee is last semester, towards the end, we had listening sessions with the community, which is how we developed the rubric of what we were looking for in a candidate,” Booth said. “These were open forums for all different types of people; there were some for alumni, there were some for students, there were some for faculty members; there were some for just, you know, anyone in the Ypsilanti community who might want their [...] voice in the process.”
Through those listening sessions, the committee identified common qualities that stakeholders wanted in a president, Booth said. With the help of WittKieffer, the executive search firm EMU hired to aid in the presidential search process, a leadership profile was created based on those common qualities.
“What surprised me at first was I thought the different communities or campus stakeholders would have really different opinions, but we saw a few very common themes that were then pulled into a leadership profile," Booth said.
While student participation in the listening sessions wasn't as high as it was for other groups, many students who did participate shared similar priorities, Booth said.
"A lot of students, and everyone else, wanted to stay true to Eastern's mission, and really be a place that's open and welcoming for all students, all types of people and all types of learners, because we have a very diverse learner population here," Booth said. "When talking to students, a lot of students were looking for communication and transparency."
Another unifying theme among groups was the need for a president who can connect with the community, including students, staff and faculty, Booth said.
"There was a lot of talks about, especially from our faculty counterparts, shared governance and what that means for leading an institution," Booth said. "There were a lot of different characteristics that we saw really shine through, but I think everybody really wanted a very personable leader, who was good at getting out to the community."
The input and recommendations offered by Booth and Makayla Myers, the other student representative on the search advisory committee, were taken seriously by the whole committee, Booth said.
"Everybody made space for me and Makayla as students, which was really important; they wanted to hear our opinions," Booth said. "They would defer to us for different issues that related to students and overall."
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article misstated the timeline for the announcement of the new EMU president. The new president is expected to be identified by the end of 2025.
