Marshall BOG Figures Out Process Moving Forward

  Marshall University Leadership met Thursday to discuss the next step in finding leadership for the University in the wake of the death of Marshall President Stephen Kopp.

Kopp died Wednesday night. He was 63.

Marshall’s 10-member leadership team met Thursday morning to discuss the process for going forward with operations.

The Board of Governors retains the authority to run the university in Kopp’s place. Thursday morning the Board of Governors directed the senior leadership team to take care of the usual day-to-day operations.

The Board of Governors met later in the day to discuss the timeline and process for naming an interim. Marshall Board of Governors Chairman Michael Sellards said the next step for the Board is to compile a list of interim candidates for the presidency.

“And as I indicated the executive committee will vet those candidates before making a recommendation to the full board and at the same time we’ll put together a list of national search firms for the permanent replacement for the president of Marshall University,” Sellards said.

Sellards said it could take 30-60 days to name an interim and anywhere from 6 months to 9 months to pick the permanent candidate. Once a candidate is picked the Higher Education Policy Commission will provide final approval. Sellards said they’d like to get an interim in place as quickly as they can.

“Our hope is to move as quickly as possible on this, so if we can vet an appropriate candidate that we feel reflects the missions and values of Marshall University then we’ll bring that candidate on,” Sellards said.