University System of Maryland Chancellor William E. Kirwan, who announced in the spring his plans to step down, said this week that he will likely remain in his post at least through February as the search continues for his successor.
A month after Kirwan announced in May that he was leaving after 12 years as chancellor, the system's Board of Regents appointed a 10-member search and screening committee to recruit and review Kirwan's successor.
Kirwan said he will remain in the position until the new chancellor takes over. He said he has consulted with the board on the process and has also suggested names, but he declined to comment on any candidates.
"The search committee is hard at work, and my sense is that it's coming to a conclusion," said Kirwan, speaking in his Adelphi office Wednesday. He said he is not involved in the vetting process. "It could be that [my successor] can't come until June, so I don't want to pinpoint it. But I think [I will remain chancellor] for at least the first couple of months of the new year."
USM Board of Regents Chairman Jim Shea declined to comment on the search process. Search committee chair Rick O. Berndt, a former Board of Regents member and managing partner of Baltimore law firm Gallagher Evelius & Jones, did not return calls seeking comment Thursday.
Kirwan said that despite challenges looming in the wake of the state's budget shortfall, the system overall is "in a very good state."
"The new chancellor would have a good platform upon which to build to advance the system further," said Kirwan.
He said that system enrollment and graduation rates are at all-time highs while average time to obtain degrees (4.2 years) within the system is at an all-time low.
"The state asked us to increase the number of [science, technology, engineering and math] graduates we produce by 40 percent, and we've already increased it by 55 percent," said Kirwan. "We put a real priority on our research prowess to help grow Maryland's economy, and one of the goals we set was to create 350 companies from 2010 to 2020, and we've already started 250 companies."