DeKALB — The Presidential Search Preparation Committee is gearing toward establishing a functional Presidential Profile for the job description of the university’s president.  

The Points of Pride Job Description Characteristics subcommittee met 2 p.m. Thursday to discuss what progress was made before presenting to the committee as a whole. The committee will present its work to the Board of Trustees 2 p.m. May 15 in Altgeld Hall, Room 203.

Abby Dean, senior director of university marketing, said Trustee Dennis Barsema informed her the Board is working on a budget and will let the committee know what they have to work with once it is established. Dean also said Barsema indicated the subcommittee was on the right track with developing the Points of Pride and Presidential Profile.

“I think we can pull some stories that have already been written, maybe refresh them and put them in here,” Dean said. “We can also [use] anything that’s written for [the Points of Pride] can be reconfigured for a younger audience, a recruitment audience— recruiting faculty, recruiting students.”

Linda Saborio, executive secretary of the University Council, said Barsema is very focused on representing the university as a national research institution, so the committee is working to make sure it is a focus within the Points of Pride and what light they paint the university in.

“I wasn’t really sure what task to take on [the Presidential Profile],” Saborio said.

Saborio said in producing the draft of the Presidential Profile she pulled from other documents like the previous Presidential Profile and documents provided by Trustee John Butler.

Barsema, Presidential Search Preparation Committee chair, sat in at the meeting and gave feedback as to what he felt was important to include in the Presidential Profile.

“If I was the incoming candidate I’d want to know that there was at least some base of information there, that [NIU] prioritized the programs within the university,” Barsema said.

Barsema said in line with his push for presenting NIU as a national research institution, it is important to include the university’s partnerships with nationally recognized research laboratories like Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.

Dean said she suggested to navigate the Points of Pride and Presidential Profile under NIU’s brand narrative.

“There are certain things like research, like diversity, that are ubiquitous throughout,” Dean said. “So we can pay off on those things reached throughout on things that the university does.”