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Regents seek firm to help find Center for Intellectual Freedom director, net one response
‘The timeline listed in the RFQ is only tentative’
Feb. 10, 2026 3:52 pm, Updated: Feb. 10, 2026 6:33 pm
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IOWA CITY — The Board of Regents received just one response to its request for qualifications from consulting firms interested in leading the search for a permanent executive director of its new University of Iowa-based Center for Intellectual Freedom.
The board, which oversees the center, issued the request a month ago — setting a response deadline of Feb. 6, in hopes of awarding a contract Feb. 20.
“The timeline listed in the RFQ is only tentative,” board spokesman Josh Lehman said, noting a 13-member “scholar committee” responsible for screening proposals and choosing firms to interview has not yet met.
To The Gazette’s question of whether the board still hopes to sign a firm by Feb. 20, Lehman said, “Until the committee meets, it’s impossible to say.” That meeting is set for Thursday.
Although the center is based at the University of Iowa, it was created by the Iowa Legislature last year as an independent academic center under the regents — led by an advisory council, including the “scholar committee” subgroup.
And while the full council includes “notable” Iowans like former Gov. Terry Branstad, former Board of Regents President Mike Richards, former U.S. Rep. Greg Ganske, and four current regents, the scholar subcommittee includes only out-of-state professors from universities like Princeton, George Mason, Emory, Stanford and Northwestern.
The Board of Regents gets the final say on a new executive director, but the scholars have been tasked with leading the national search and whittling down the choices, according to the board’s RFQ — which spells out the “scope of services” for any chosen search firm:
- To help and advise the scholar committee in its selection of an executive director;
- To screen and search for prospects;
- To conduct a broad advertising campaign, including with major education, state and national media outlets;
- To collect nominations and applications for the executive director position, and correspond with them;
- To make sure all applicant files are complete and include an official transcript from the colleges and universities from which they claim to have degrees;
- To conduct thorough background checks and help the committee evaluate the nominations based on those who meet the board’s criteria;
- And help the committee recommend a group of three to five finalists to the board.
Among the minimum qualifications search firms must meet to be considered is demonstration of and commitment to compliance with all state and federal laws, including “laws prohibiting the consideration of DEI statements and personal political ideology in hiring.”
“It must provide adequate information for candidates to have a complete understanding of the Center for Intellectual Freedom, the duties and responsibilities of the executive director, and the requirements for the position as determined by the Board of Regents,” according to the search firm requirements.
According to the RFQ, the center’s mission is “to advance top-tier scholarship in areas such as the texts and major debates foundational to free societies, the principles, ideals, and institutions of the American constitutional order, and the foundations of responsible leadership and informed citizenship.”
It commits to offering “a unique environment where diverse viewpoints are encouraged to come together to engage in civil debate and thoughtful conversation.”
Courses in American history, government, and civic leadership will be paired with public programs, guest speakers and research opportunities connecting classroom insights to real-world challenges, according to the RFQ.
The center had hoped to offer four classes this spring semester under the interim leadership of UI professor Luciano De Castro. But low enrollment in those offered the first half of the term forced De Castro to cancel them and focus on the two courses offered between March and May.
Those courses — Political and Economic Institutions in the United States and American Culture and Values — now have published their line up of confirmed and pending lecturers.
For the Political and Economic Institutions course:
- Reynolds Cramer, Fareway Stores CEO (pending);
- Timothy Hagle, UI political science associate professor;
- Former Iowa Rep. Greg Ganske (pending);
- Alex P. Smith, UI political science lecturer;
- Stephen Balch, a conservative higher education scholar and founding president of the National Association of Scholars, a conservative education advocacy group, who currently serves as chair for the Association for the Study of Free Institutions — a conservative think tank.
For the American Culture and Values course:
- Richard Fumerton, UI philosophy professor and co-director of Ethics and Public Policy, will lecture on “Freedom: Its costs and benefits”;
- Timothy Hagle, UI political science associate professor, will lecture on “Freedom of Speech”;
- Mark Bauerlein, a professor emeritus of English who Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis named to the board of trustees of New College of Florida, will lead a lecture titled “America has a National Literature”;
- Alex P. Smith, UI political science lecturer, will lecture on “Ideas of the Federalist”;
- Eric Dugdale will lecture on “Teachers of the Polls: past and present”;
- Flavio Guimaraes will lecture on “Self-reliance as an American value”;
- Mike Whalen, founder, president and CEO of the Heartland Group, will lecture on “Why capitalism rocks.”
Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.
Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com
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