Search Committee Named to Replace William C. Richardson The chairman of the university's board of trustees is appointing a 19-member committee to conduct a national and international search for a "world-class" leader to serve as 12th president of Johns Hopkins. Chairman Morris W. Offit, after a meeting of the board's executive committee last week, said it will "probably take a good five or six months" to choose William C. Richardson's successor. He said there is a strong likelihood the board will appoint an interim president to serve after Dr. Richardson's departure this summer. Dr. Richardson, president for the past five years, announced last month that he will take a new post as president and chief executive officer of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation on Aug. 1. While he deeply regrets leaving Hopkins, he said the opportunity to lead the nation's second-largest foundation--and one that shares his interests in such areas as health care delivery and education--was simply impossible to resist. Offit said he will chair the selection committee, with assistance from two trustee vice chairs, Michael R. Bloomberg and Lenox D. Baker. Faculty on the committee will be Frances Ferguson, professor of English, and Leon Gordis, an associate dean of the School of Medicine and a professor of pediatrics there and of epidemiology in the School of Public Health. Douglas A. Fellman '84, president of the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association and a trustee, and three students--a full-time undergraduate, a full-time graduate student and a part-time student--also will serve on the committee. The remaining members of the committee are all trustees (see list, below). Offit--who also chaired the search that brought Dr. Richardson to Hopkins--said he put together a balanced committee, composed of members with a broad understanding of the university as well as knowledge of a specific school or other interest. "This is a world-class university. We'll be looking for a world-class talent," Offit told the Baltimore Sun. "We'll find someone whose scholarship is respected by the faculty, who has enormous interpersonal capabilities, the ability to work with people, to bring ... faculty and staff along the path of collegiality." He said the ability to build relationships, both inside and outside Johns Hopkins, is essential in a president, especially one who will lead the university during the bulk of the $900 million Johns Hopkins Initiative. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Presidential Search Committee ----------------------------------------------------------------- Chair: Morris W. Offit, BA'57, chair of the board of trustees Vice chairs: Lenox D. Baker, BA'63 MD'66, trustee; Michael R. Bloomberg, BES'64, vice chair of the board of trustees and chair of The Johns Hopkins Initiative Alexis Bakos, Ph.D. student, Nursing Andrew J. Bozzelli, BE'53, trustee George L. Bunting Jr., trustee Constance R. Caplan, MA'78, trustee William J. Crawford, freshman, Home-wood schools Marlene David, MLA student, Continuing Studies Douglas A. Fellman, BA'84, trustee, president of the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association Frances Ferguson, professor of English Leon Gordis, associate dean of the School of Medicine, professor of pediatrics and epidemiology Robert D.H. Harvey, BS'53, trustee Stuart S. Janney III, trustee Judy C. Lewent, trustee Walter D. Pinkard Jr., trustee Mark E. Rubenstein, BES'62, trustee Frank Savage, MA'64, trustee R. Champlin Sheridan Jr., BS'52, vice chair of the board of trustees and vice chair of The Johns Hopkins Initiative