August 31, 2007

Dear Vanderbilt Community Member,

No single decision in the life of a university is as important as that of who will lead it as Chancellor. Much in our common life as an institution depends upon the character, knowledge, and skills that a person brings to the role of Chancellor. So that we can find and recruit the very best person to lead our university, we are writing to ask your help.

We are writing on behalf of the Vanderbilt Board of Trust's Chancellor Search Committee and the Chancellor Search Advisory Committee to solicit your views on the state of our institution and on the qualities you believe essential and desirable in the next Chancellor of Vanderbilt University. We hope that you will respond to the questionnaire that follows by September 30th, via the confidential website at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/chancellorsearch/survey.html or by printing out the form found on that page and submitting it via campus mail.

The questions we ask are stated in an open-ended fashion because we do not presume to know all the things a future Chancellor should know about Vanderbilt or the challenges and opportunities she or he might face. We do believe that, together, all the people who know Vanderbilt can help the search committee accurately describe the strategic future of Vanderbilt and articulate the essential knowledge, skills, and qualities of character that our next Chancellor should possess.

We believe that Vanderbilt has extraordinary strengths to be preserved in the next Chancellor's time at the head of our university. Communicating those strengths will help a great institution continue its momentum. Likewise, identifying weaknesses, challenges, and unrealized opportunities will help Vanderbilt choose the right person for the next phase in our mission of education, healing, and research.

We hope that you will take the time to respond to our questions so that we may incorporate what you see into search criteria for a Chancellor and to communicate the Vanderbilt we know and hope for, to the future Chancellor of Vanderbilt University.

Sincerely,

Dennis C. Bottorff, Board of Trust Vice Chairman Chair, Chancellor Search Committee

James Hudnut-Beumler, Dean of the Divinity School Chair, Chancellor Search Advisory Committee