Search committees have formed to find new directors for Marketing and Communication, the Office of Information Technology (OIT) and Alumni Engagement after the former Marywood employees who held these positions resigned last summer.

The university hired Hyatt-Fennell, a company that specializes in searching for job candidates, to help fill the vacant director positions in the Marketing and Communication department and OIT department.

These positions were formerly “Chief Information Officer of OIT” and “Associate Vice President for Marketing and Communication.” Anthony Spinillo and Peter Kilcullen, respectively, held these titles before their resignations last summer.

According to Marywood President Sr. Mary Persico, IHM, Ed.D, the administration changed the titles of these positions after the two resigned to comply with a recommendation from the Strategic Resource Allocation (SRA) process.

No changes have been made to the Alumni Engagement position since Ann Williams resigned in early June, according to Vice President for University Advancement Dr. Renee Zehel.

Faculty and staff are serving on search committees for the OIT and Marketing and Communication positions, according to Vice President of Business Affairs Tammy McHale. Dr. Patricia Dunleavy, associate vice president for Human Resources, said students are also serving on the Marketing and Communication search committee.

McHale said no current employees from OIT and Marketing and Communication are serving on the search committees, but they will participate in the process now that the committees narrowed down the list of candidates for both searches.

“That’s been my experience, that you typically don’t involve the people that report to the person [that will fill the position] on your search. You don’t get to pick your boss, necessarily,” McHale said.

Zehel said the search committee for Alumni Engagement consists of Senior Director of Development and Annual Giving Christina Mace, Marywood Alumni Association President Michelle Summers and Marywood Student Alumni Association President Haleigh Zurak.

Mace will work alongside the new director of Alumni Engagement, Zehel said.

Additionally, former alumni co-directors Mary Tracy and Emily Perry, former Vice President of Development Barbara Cawley, former Director of Development Mary Ellen Coleman and CEO of United Way of Lackawanna County Gary Drapek serve on the committee. Drapek used to work in public relations at Marywood, Zehel said.

Zehel said the search committee hopes to have the new Director of Alumni Engagement in by the third week of October.

McHale added that the search committees have narrowed down the list of candidates, and will bring them to campus the week of Oct. 2 to “meet with the much broader group of people.”

Candidates for the Director of Marketing and Communication position will participate in open forums on the following dates at 11 a.m., according to an email notice from Ann Boland-Chase, vice president for enrollment services and student success.

• Tuesday, Oct. 3 in the Swartz Center
• Thursday, Oct. 5 in the Nazareth Student Center
• Friday, Oct. 6 in the Swartz Center

These candidates will also give presentations at 2:15 p.m. on the following dates.

• Tuesday, Oct. 3 in the Swartz Center
• Thursday, Oct. 5 in the Nazareth Student Center
• Friday, Oct. 6 in the Swartz Center

Candidates for the Director of IT position will participate in open forums at 3:15 p.m. on the following dates, according to another email notice from Boland-Chase.

• Monday, Oct. 2 in the Swartz Center
• Tuesday, Oct. 3 in the Swartz Center
• Thursday, Oct. 5 in the Science Center
• Friday, Oct. 6 in the Swartz Center

Afterward, online surveys regarding each candidate will be available for the Marywood community to provide their input until Monday, Oct. 9 at 5 p.m.

McHale said at the “absolute earliest,” the new directors of OIT and Marketing and Communication will start in the beginning of November.

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Twitter: @BWilliamsTWW