IU presidential search nears end

IU has moved one step closer to selecting the University's next president.\nThe Presidential Search Committee has completed its work and passed on its candidate recommendations to the board of trustees.\nTed Miller, Bloomington Faculty Council president and Presidential Search Committee member, made the announcement Tuesday afternoon at the BFC meeting. He told the group of professors and other campus leaders in brief remarks that the search committee had "terminated its operations."\nThis move marks one of the final steps in the process that began last year to select IU President Adam Herbert's replacement.\nMiller, who is subject to conditions of confidentiality about what he can say about the search, did not allude to who some of the candidates were or how many of the original nominees remained.\nAfter the search committee passed along its recommendations, Miller said, the trustees met in a closed-door session last Friday during their business meeting to discuss some of the possible candidates. \n"I think the trustees are excited about the opportunities for Indiana University," said IU trustee Patrick Shoulders. Because the Presidential Search Committee selected "great candidates," he said, everyone involved in the process was also eager.\nDespite his initial enthusiasm for the candidates, Shoulders could not say whether he believed any of the current candidates would be right to lead the University until he had spoken with each one personally.\nShoulders said a "public vote" by the trustees would take place at the end of the search process to verify the selection of the University's next leader. Gov. Mitch Daniels, who appoints some of the trustees, will not be involved in the selection of IU's next president.\nEven with the search's secrecy, Shoulders said, throughout the process trustees managed to stay informed about who the potential candidates were. He said the trustees were periodically briefed and given updates about the search.\nSince the trustees' discussion of the candidates last week, Sue Talbot, an IU trustee and chair of the Presidential Search Committee, has been contacting different members of the disbanded search committee, asking them "about the conclusions the trustees have come to," Miller said.\nThe announcement comes less than a month after the Presidential Search Committee conducted its first round of interviews in Chicago. \nMiller gave no timeline for when he thought the search would be completed -- something Talbot has previously said would finish during the summer -- but said the search was proceeding "quite rapidly."\nFollowing faculty criticism after failing to name a Bloomington chancellor at the conclusion of a lengthy search in 2005, Herbert announced he will retire when his contract runs out in 2008.\nLast summer he said he will step down earlier if a replacement is found.