WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. (WTRF) – After announcing the names of their top four presidential candidates last week, West Liberty University has invited each one to campus for dinner, campus tours, and interviews with faculty, staff, and students. 

This week’s candidate is Dr. Kelly Ryan, who became interim chancellor of Indiana University Southeast in July 2022 and was a professor of history there since 2007. 

The other three candidates will be visiting West Liberty over the course of the month. 

The search committee began narrowing down from 60 candidates last September and say they want someone with the qualifications but also be able to connect from a human standpoint. 

”We spent hours and hours upon looking through all of these applications, rated them, but wanted to find individual who would come in here and feel empowered, but also engaged with faculty, staff and students. We’re looking for, you know, not necessarily someone to repair – because it’s not really broken. It’s just a little, you know, misguided, misadjusted right now. So, we’re looking for someone to come in and find the cohesiveness of this university.”

Tom Cervone – Chairman, WLU Presidential Search Committee

The hiring timeline will happen fairly quickly after all of the final four candidates visit campus and speak with the search committee and the Board of Governors.