The general public will be able to get involved with the search for the University of Wisconsin’s next chancellor through three public forums set to take place next week.

The announcement of the schedule for the forums comes after last week’s first meeting of the Chancellor Search and Screen Committee . The 25-member group addressed qualities it would like to see in the next UW chancellor, who they will select to replace Interim Chancellor David Ward at the end of this academic year.

In an email to The Badger Herald, Chancellor Search and Screen Committee Chair David McDonald said the upcoming forums will play two important and related roles.

“First, in a university community that prizes shared governance, they offer faculty, staff and students from across campus to take part in putting together a shared vision of the university’s future, a vision we all hope a chancellor can embrace and help fulfill,” McDonald said.

McDonald said the forums will also allow for the perspectives of possible candidates to be presented to help in the discussions and selection process that takes place within the search committee.

McDonald said those who attend should come prepared to briefly state the qualities they would like to see in the next UW chancellor.

According to a UW statement, a Web chat system and other social media outlets will be made available at the forums.

McDonald said given the logistical and time constraints of in-person listening sessions, the search and screen committee wanted to make it easier for people to participate.

“We want to maximize the opportunities for members of the campus and off-campus UW-Madison community to have their voices, literal or digital, heard during this crucial initial phase of the extended search process,” McDonald said.

In an email to The Badger Herald, UW System spokesperson David Giroux said the search for the next UW chancellor is important and encompasses a unique process.

Giroux said this process provides many opportunities for public input, and he added people who care about UW’s future should take advantage of these opportunities.

“It’s a very open, public process that starts with faculty, staff, students, and other stakeholders,” Giroux said.

McDonald said people can also interact via Twitter using #uwsearch or email at [email protected].

Those interested can also find more information at chancellorsearch.wisc.edu, McDonald said.

“These forums also remind all of us on the search committee of the many individual angles from which each of us views and experiences our home institution,” McDonald said. “Too often, we tend only to think of ‘our’ university – the part that we inhabit – so it is useful for all of us to hear how others see and experience it.”

According to the UW statement, the first forum open to the general public will take place in the Health and Sciences Center room 1325 on Tuesday, Oct. 16 from 7-8:30 a.m.

The second will take place in Grainger Hall in the Plenary Room on Wednesday, Oct. 17 from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m, and the final forum will be in Union South in Varsity Hall 3 on Friday, Oct. 19 from 11 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.