AN INTERNATIONAL SEARCH has begun for a new chancellor at The University of New England, following incumbent James Harris' decision not to seek a further appointment.
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Executive search firm Egon Zehnder will undertake the search to find a new chancellor.
"[The university] is seeking someone who is a recognised leader, has a breadth of professional and board experience and connection with the higher education sector," deputy chancellor Jan McClelland said.
"It seeks an outstanding individual with the personal attributes to be a compelling public face for UNE. The [UNE] council seeks to appoint a person who understands and has a passion for the role and importance of universities in society."
Ms McClelland will also chair the chancellor selection committee. Other council appointees are vice-chancellor Chris Moran, associate professor Jennifer McDonell and council members Ian Gillespie, David van Aanholt and Megan Aitken.
Emeritus professor Peter Coaldrake and Mr Byron Davis, a leader in Indigenous tertiary education, training and employment, completes the committee.
Mr Harris was first appointed to the UNE council in 1994.
Since then, Mr Harris has served as deputy chancellor from 2001 to 2007 (when he was awarded an honorary doctorate) and as chancellor from 2014.
The grazier and owner of the Abington group of properties accepted the role of chancellor after a challenging time for the university, when John Cassidy and Richard Torbay served as chancellors.
"UNE had a fairly choppy period of relations between chancellor and vice-chancellor," Mr Harris told The Armidale Express upon his re-appointment as chancellor in 2014.
"We made the front page too often ... I wanted to take the heat out of the relationship between council, senior management, and the university committee."
Before joining council, Mr Harris consulted academics for agricultural business purposes. His great-grandfather, Thomas Richmond Forster, donated Booloominbah Historic House (now the university's administrative headquarters) and the surrounding acreage (now the academic campus) to Sydney University on the condition the government establish a university on the site.
The chancellor's duties are 15 per cent ceremonial and 85 per cent administrative. Duties include presiding over graduation ceremonies and college dinners, meeting visiting politicians and attending functions in Sydney.