ALLENDALE, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – Both of Ottawa County’s institutions of higher education will have new leaders at the top when a new decade arrives.
Dr. Thomas Haas announced on Wednesday that he will retire as President of Grand Valley State University, but won’t step down until next June 30th, about 16 months from now, in order to allow the Allendale school enough time to choose his successor. Since assuming the reins as the Lakers’ fourth-ever president in 2006, replacing Mark Murray, Haas has seen GVSU increase in enrollment, programs and campus reach in what school officials say was “a steady period of managed growth and success.”
Haas will still be affiliated with the school as a chemistry professor in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences once he takes “a break” following his retirement. The GVSU Board called a special meeting on Wednesday following Haas’ announcement, establishing itself as the search committee for the next President, with a 15-person advisory council coming from trustees, faculty members, staffers, alumni, the current student body and the general public, and an executive search firm will be retained to assist in the search.
Last spring, Dr. John Knapp stepped down as Hope College’s President to assume a similar role with Washington and Jefferson College in Pennsylvania; Dr. Dennis Voskuil is currently handling those duties on an interim basis for up to two years, through the end of June, 2019.
