Jaklynn Bosserman has a list of attributes she wants in a new chancellor: Integrity, youth and experience.

“The most important thing is integrity,” said Bosserman, a senior Nursing student. “To me, integrity means the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. This is a very important skill to have no matter what profession you’re in, but especially as a chancellor of a college. This is because being honest with their faculty and students goes a long way in being able to stand up and speak on behalf of the university, which is one of the most important duties of the chancellor.”

Bosserman would also prefer for the new chancellor to be younger than the last four chancellors. Of the four men who have served Purdue Northwest and its predecessor institutions as chancellor, only one was younger than 50 when appointed: Richard Combs, who was 48 when he was named chancellor of what was then Purdue Calumet in 1975. Keon was XX when he took office in 2011.

“I think a younger chancellor would be more likely to participate in events on campus ran by student organizations as well as sporting events,” Bosserman said.

The Nursing major also hopes the next chancellor has some experience with smaller schools and how to run things.

“Someone who knows how to navigate a smaller school such as PNW would be best for the job,” said Bosserman. “I attended Ball State University during my first year of college, then I made the decision to switch to PNW, and these two experiences were very different for me. I imagine being the chancellor of a bigger college entails a lot of different things compared to a smaller college with less students, staff, programs, etc.”

She believes the search committee should look for a particular kind of experience.

“I think that a background in business is essential for someone in a chancellor position. Many of the chancellor’s daily duties remind me of [those] of a CEO of a business,” she said, adding that the experience will be useful in “making sure that the organization itself is running smoothly and with the utmost integrity.”