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May 12, 2006

Statement by Gallaudet Board of Trustees

From: Gallaudet - May 12, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Mercy Coogan
Director
Office of Public Relations
Gallaudet University
202.651.5727


Statement by Gallaudet Board of Trustees

The Gallaudet Board of Trustees today announced that Dr. Jane Fernandes will immediately step down as provost to allow for the transition to her presidency. Dr. Fernandes will concentrate her work to carefully review all of the issues brought up during the last few weeks and to work with the campus community to address them. In addition, Dr. Fernandes will begin work on a search for a new provost.

"There have been several important issues raised in the past few weeks," said Brenda Brueggemann, acting-Chair of the Board of Trustees. "As we begin the search for a new Provost, we want to have an open process that will address these concerns, and allow students, faculty, teachers and staff to play an important role in the process," said Brueggemann.

Over the past week, the Board of Trustees has spent many hours meeting with and listening to the community. They have also received hundreds of communications from outside the campus community. This morning they met in a closed executive session to discuss concerns raised during the meetings and conversations and they came to agreement on several matters that need to be addressed. The Board of Trustees invited Dr. Fernandes and Dr. I. King Jordan into the meeting to discuss immediate next steps.

Dr. Jordan was asked by the Board to set up a process to identify an interim provost. He will begin by establishing a committee made up of faculty, staff and students and by sending out a call for nominations. Dr. Jordan will seek nominations of people who might be willing to serve until a permanent provost is selected. It was the strong opinion of the Board that this person should not be someone who might seek to have the permanent provost position.

Also at the same time, Dr. Fernandes will lead a national search to identify the permanent provost. She will establish a representative committee to develop a job description and then do a national search to find the new provost.

"We must move ahead and bring all sides together. We all gain if we work together, in a collaborative manner. We have been conducting open and honest dialogues with many different groups on and off campus. We are looking forward to moving ahead and continuing to strengthen our Gallaudet University," Brueggemann concluded.