CofC names presidential search committee

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The College of Charleston board of trustees has named an eight-member presidential search committee charged with finding a successor to President Glenn McConnell, who announced his retirement last week.

The board also voted to accept McConnell’s retirement, effective July 2. In an email to the campus community, board chair David Hay said that, to ease the transition, McConnell will stay on in an advisory capacity in the months following his retirement.

“I expect this transition to be smooth and seamless because of the great senior team President McConnell has assembled and the incredible faculty and staff that lead this university,” he said.

The presidential search committee will be chaired by trustee Renee Romberger, as announced last week. Other members of the search committee include:

• Demetria Noisette Clemons, trustee
• Cherry Daniel, trustee
• Godfrey Gibbison, dean of the CofC School of Professional Studies and associate professor of economics
• David Hay, trustee
• Liz Jurisich, speaker of the faculty and professor of mathematics
• Greg Padgett, trustee
• Ricci Land Welch, trustee

The board also voted unanimously to appoint Steve Osborne as interim president, effective upon McConnell’s retirement. Osborne retired last summer as the school’s executive vice president of business affairs, but he has remained at the school as a senior adviser to the president.