Texas Tech, ASU search for new ASU president

As freshmen students are finishing their first week in a new city and university, one of ASU’s prolific officers is doing the same.

   Over the summer, ASU President Dr. Joseph C. Rallo was appointed as the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs to ASU’s parent school, Texas Tech University.

     Rallo’s appointment came on May 18 by the Texas Tech Board of Regents, and a search for a new ASU president began right away.

  “We selected the search committee, started going through resumes and narrowed it down to about six people,” Texas Tech Chancellor Kent Hance said.

  After initial screenings the search committee will decide on three to four finalists for the position. They will then recommend those finalists to Hance.

    However, before Hance interviews the finalists, the Board of Regents is scheduled to meet with the finalists in early to mid-September.

     After the Board of Regents interviews the finalists, Hance will conduct his own interviews and select one person to present to the Board or Regents for its approval or disapproval Hance said.

     Currently, Hance has not spoken to any of the candidates about the position or the search process, but he hopes to make a decision mid-October so the new president can take his or her post in November.

     Hance said “I would like [him or her] to start in November” so that Dr. Rallo can work full time in Lubbock as vice chancellor.

     Though he has already begun his role at TTU, Rallo said, “I will remain in my current position until a new president is appointed.”

     Now that the school year has started, Rallo will preside over both positions under his ASU president salary. He will physically remain at ASU until a successor is named.

     “I am still here,” Rallo said. “I go up to Lubbock about once a week, and we are physically  going to move at the end of September. In the meantime, I am still physically down here.”

     Under state law, the name of any finalist for the president’s position of a higher learning institution must be given at least 21 days before an official hiring date.  
The search committee includes: Mickey Long,  Board of Regents Vice Chair; Leslie Mayrand, ASU dean and professor of nursing; Nancy Neal, Tech system regent; Alvin New, mayor of San Angelo; John D. Steinmetz, system regent; David. J. Tarver, ASU professor; Jorge Velarde, vice president and CFO of Multi-Chem, a San-Angelo-based chemical maker; and student regent Suzanne Williams Taylor.

Rallo has a bachelor’s degree in Russian history from Lafayette College, a jurist doctor’s from Western New England College and a master’s and doctorate in international relations from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

Rallo served on active duty for the U.S. Navy and later for the U.S. Air Force, with duty assignments in intelligence and logistics. He retired from the military after 27 years of service at the rank of colonel.