One of its first orders of business when the chancellor search committee met this week was to approve an advertisement for the position that was to be sent out to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Some debate took place over the language in the ad, part of which reads, “The Chancellor Search Committee seeks a talented leader who will have a strong commitment to the University’s Comprehensive Mission.”

Professor Robert Johnson of Africana Studies asked if it should be changed to “talented educational leader.” “I just think it’s very open,” he said of the ad.

Most search committee members appeared to want to leave the phrase as open as possible.

“I think you start as inclusive as you can be, and you eventually winnow down,” said UMass President Jack Wilson after the meeting. “Eventually, you have to decide who is the best candidate to lead this place at this time.”

“It’s up to this committee, but I don’t think it necessarily has to be strictly an academic,” said James Karam, chairman of the UMass Board of Trustees. “We will certainly look at someone who’s a great leader from outside the academic world. But we’d want to make sure that they have a high level of education, maybe a terminal degree in their chosen profession, and that they’ve had experience with academia and the processes involved in academia. It could be someone from the private sector but served on the board of trustees for an extended period of time for a public or private institution. But if we get a great leader who’s an academic, that’s great, too.”