With the Rev. Robert A. Wild’s announcement of his plans to retire, a search is now underway to find the next president of Marquette.

A teleconference was conducted by a seven-member search committee yesterday afternoon to initiate the search.

“We are going to hit the ground running to see what the common qualities are out there for what we are looking for in a candidate,” said committee member the Rev. James Flaherty, rector of the Jesuit residence and assistant professor of philosophy.

Under current university bylaws, the committee is targeting its search to only Jesuits.

The search will be led by Mary Ellen Stanek, a 1978 alumna and immediate past chair of the university’s board of trustees. She is currently managing director and director of asset management at Robert W. Baird & Co. The board elected the committee’s members during a regularly scheduled meeting last Wednesday, where Wild announced his plans to retire. All search committee members are also alumni.

Wild has said he will not retire until at least June 30, 2011. If a successor is not named by then, he will remain in his position until a new president takes office. Stanek said the search will be extensive considering the period of time the committee has.

In a University News Briefs item released Monday, board of trustees chair Darren Jackson said the board has discussed Wild’s retirement and the naming of his successor annually for the past several years. Stanek said she believes the committee will have no trouble finding a suitable replacement that shares similar leadership qualities to Wild.

The university will host four forums, April 6 through 8, for students, parents, alumni, faculty, administrators and staff to voice opinions on qualities they want in a new president. People can also submit comments through an online form.

“We don’t want to presume what we are looking for until we have received input from all the key people in Marquette’s community,” Stanek said.

Both Stanek and Flaherty said student participation and cooperation is crucial to the committee’s decision.

“We are casting the net very wide in terms of gathering enough information and listening very carefully to the community,” Stanek said.

The process the committee developed is based on what other Jesuit colleges and universities have done in the past.

“We spent a fair amount of time comparing what has worked and what hasn’t worked at other Jesuit schools,” Stanek said. “We tried to learn from successful searches.”

The search committee has plenty of schools to learn from. Marquette will be the 22nd Jesuit institution in the nation to look for a new president since 2000.

Flaherty said some schools have conducted an open search of both Jesuits and lay people. Seven Jesuit schools currently have non-Jesuit priests as their presidents. However, at this time, Marquette is committed to choosing a Jesuit, Flaherty and Stanek said.

“More than anything, we are looking for someone who can articulate the Jesuit mission and identity of the university,” Flaherty said.

The initial list will remain confidential until candidacy is finalized.

Wild will be involved minimally with the decision.

“Fr. Wild has said he wants to be supportive but stay at an arm’s length,” Stanek said. “He will not interfere with the process at all, but he will be able to provide the committee live counsel.”

The committee is confident there will be good candidates for the position, according to Flaherty. He said the university’s profile makes the presidency an attractive position.

“We find ourselves in a great place,” Stanek said. “The future is very, very bright for Marquette.”