It has been 300 days since we first learned of University of Idaho President Chuck Staben’s “mutual decision” with the Idaho State Board of Education to step down as president by the end of the year.
Since then, students, faculty and alumni have all been wondering who will come next. Who will get the chance to pull UI out of its decades-long slump with university presidents, highlighted by a strenuous last two years at the administrative level?
As the end of March draws near, the upcoming decision by the SBOE on who will take over as the University of Idaho president looms.
Before Spring Break, the UI community was given a brief glimpse into each of the prospective candidates bring to the table. And while Diane Chase, Elizabeth Spiller and Scott Green each gave intriguing arguments as to why they should be selected as UI’s 19th president, only one candidate proved capable of leading UI into the future and beyond: Christopher Callahan.
The candidates brought an array of thoughts to the table during the week of visits, but Callahan brought something refreshing, honest and sincere — he wants to be one of us.
“I don’t want to be a university president. I want to be the president of this university,” Callahan said.
During his open forum, Callahan said he reached out to the university rather than the search committee reaching out to him. Callahan saw something special in our community and he took the opportunity to learn more about it.
When Callahan fielded questions about presidential longevity, he asked us to look at his track record. A first-generation college student, Callahan worked at the University of Maryland, another land-grant university, for 15 years. For the past 13 years, he has been at Arizona State University.
The connection between a student-run newspaper and a candidate who served as founding dean of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU seems like an obvious one, but Callahan’s background as someone capable of growing academia from the ground up with transparency and care for all students is extremely important.
We understand the excitement surrounding a possible alumnus in Scott Green as this university’s next president. And the possibilities of bringing female leadership to the highest position at the university with Diane Chase or Elizabeth Spiller would be wonderful for UI.
However, Callahan’s genuine, engaging and charismatic personality brought a sense of renewed hope to a university dragged down by a stagnant administration.
Callahan embodies the tight-knit community values essential to Moscow along with the much-needed change this university deserves.
— Editorial Board