KEARNEY, Neb. — The University of Nebraska is officially moving forward with its search for the next chancellor for the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

The university announced Thursday that president Dr. Jeff Gold reconvened the search committee and formally charged them with finding the campus’s next leader.

“This is an important search for the University of Nebraska and our state, and I look forward to engaging with the extended UNK community every step of the way,” Gold said in a statement. “We are fortunate that we can take the time we need to get this right, thanks to the steady and capable leadership of Interim Chancellor Charlie Bicak.”

NU’s Interim Executive Vice President and Provost David Jackson is now the chair of the 17-person committee. The committee also includes the chancellors of the other University of Nebraska campuses: Rodney Bennett of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Joanne Li of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and Dele Davies, M.D., of the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

An executive search firm, CarterBaldwin, will assist the committee.

The next steps in the search process include public listening sessions on campus. The session dates aren’t announced, but they will be this fall and are intended to help the committee gather input from the UNK and Kearney communities.

Following the listening sessions, the search firm and committee will work with the President’s Office to develop a job description and begin inviting nominations and applications.

In a late August interview with NCN, Bicak said he expects that UNK would transition to a new chancellor in late spring or summer 2025.

The new chancellor will replace Doug Kristensen, who retired at the end of May following a 22-year stint leading UNK.