March 2002
Catanese announces on March 27 that he plans to go to Florida Institute of Technology. Last day will be June 30.
April 2002
At the April 16th Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting, Catanese announces that Provost Richard Osburn will be Interim President when he leaves.
June 2002
The search committee trying to find a new president met for the first time, four days before Catanese left. Trustee George Zoley is leading the 17-member committee of students, trustees, faculty, staff, community members and alumni.
October 2002
The search committee meets and cuts down a list of 30 candidates to seven at their Oct. 15 meeting. Two FAU administrators – Bruce Mallen, dean of the college of business and Larry Lemanski, vice president for research and graduate studies – are included in the seven.
The next day at the October BOT meeting, the board asked that the search committee reconvene and pare down the list again.
November 2002
At a Nov. 1 search committee meeting, the committee cut the list to three candidates. Still in the running are Thomas Hanley, dean of engineering at the University of Louisville; Terry Hickey, provost and psychology professor at the University of Akron; and Bruce Mallen, FAU’s dean of the college of business.
FAU’s board of trustees decided at their Nov. 20 meeting to pay the next president a base salary between $250,000 and $350,000 and a total compensation package that could top a half-million dollars.
On Nov. 27, on the eve of Thanksgiving, presidential search committee Chairman George Zoley canceled meetings for the next week – the week where a president was scheduled to be selected.
December 2002
FAU alum and lieutenant governor Frank Brogan announced on Dec. 2 that he would consider stepping down as lieutenant governor to become a university president, possibly at his old alma mater. Brogan said he would not make up his mind until after the Jan. 7 inauguration.
BOT Chairman John Temple calls a last minute meeting on Dec. 5 to discuss why he disapproves of the search being called off.
At the meeting, Zoley announces the new schedule. Under the tentative schedule candidates have until Jan. 16 to apply. During the next two weeks, the search committee will review their credentials, come up with five finalists, interview them, and then reduce the number to three. The final three will visit FAU campuses, then be interviewed by the board of trustees. Before Zoley intervened, FAU was going to follow a similar process this week – compacted into four days.
