When Carol Cartwright took the job of interim president this summer after Sidney Ribeau left for Howard University, she knew what she was getting into.

Cartwright, a former president of Kent State University for 15 years, has spent the past five decades working in higher education.

She said, her duties and daily schedule as the president vary on a daily basis and the job is a responsibility that requires her to be on call 24/7.

‘Over all of my years as a University president I’ve had students ask if they could shadow me and its always been a challenge,’ Cartwright said. ‘I’ve experimented with it from time to time and there is simply no typical day, so it is difficult to get a feel for what the schedule is like if you just sample a single day.’

On Tuesday, Cartwright had two speeches to give and eight meetings to attend in between those speeches.

Outside of her responsibilities on campus she has to engage with University donors, business partners, community leaders, alumni and congressional leaders, Cartwright said.

‘I might spend an entire day in Washington meeting with our congressional delegation and with graduates in the area who want to stay updated on the University and then might not do that again for two weeks,’ Cartwright said.

The president’s job is to make sure the University’s daily operations run smoothly, she said.

‘The responsibilities of the president of the University are very broad and very diverse because the board of trustees has delegated to the president the overall administration and leadership of the University,’ Cartwright said. ‘Now, you do that through a process of building a shared agenda and having a shared vision of the institution with the board of trustees. So the board is providing the overall oversight but the president is delegated the responsibility of making everything happen on a day to day basis.’

She said her job couldn’t be done without the help of many University officials.

‘Of course, no president does it alone,’ Cartwright said. ‘It requires a very talented team of senior administrators, who each have a particular area of expertise and provide leadership in the areas of administration that are required to assure that the university is operating well and moving forward.’

Cartwright compared her job to that of an orchestra conductor

‘It’s a little bit like an orchestra conductor in that anybody in the orchestra can be a great soloist, but it takes the conductor to bring all the pieces together and create a harmonious whole,’ Cartwright said.

By taking the interim presidency Cartwright said, she has become the face of the University and she has to meet with the public in order to advance the goals of BGSU.

‘You are the public face of the University so the opportunities to engage with groups outside the University are very important in promoting the goals and the needs of the University to people who are influential in a variety of ways,’ Cartwright said.

Some characteristics that the next president of BGSU needs, said Cartwright include, ‘energy, confidence and the ability to work with the board of trustees, a leader who can engage others to effect positive change and someone who can raise money.’

Cartwright retired from the Kent State presidency in 2006 and during her tenure there she kept a close eye on BGSU and the achievements of Ribeau.

‘The institutions [BGSU and Kent] are competitors, so you are always watching what your competitors are doing and I developed a great deal of respect for the changes that president Ribeau was making,’ she said. ‘Especially, regarding a more integrated undergraduate experience and a very strong focus on student success.’

When the BGSU Board of Trustees contacted her about the interim presidency, she said they were interested in her because she ‘knew Ohio and had a lot of experience.’

‘I felt like I should give it some consideration and the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a place where I could make a difference and where the logistics of taking on the responsibilities were manageable.,’ Cartwright said.

Cartwright said, she is not interested in the full-time presidency and after her interim period as president she will head back home.

‘I will go back to Kent and continue the work that I have been engaged in with a number of boards and return to retirement,’ Cartwright said.