Mississippi State University’s next president will be named Tuesday evening, but his identity remains the subject of speculation.
Interviews with final candidates-it has been speculated that there are anywhere between two and five-will take place Sunday and Monday in Jackson, according to a College Board press release. After Monday’s interview, the board will announce its preferred candidate.
This preferred candidate will come to MSU Tuesday to meet with members of the campus community, the release says. MSU students and employees can meet with the candidate from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Parker Ballroom of the Hunter Henry Center.
At 5 p.m., the College Board will meet in the Correro Board Room of the Hunter Henry Center, the release says.
A press conference will be held following a meeting, during which the board will “more than likely” introduce MSU’s next president, said Annie Mitchell, College Board director of media relations.
In a memo distributed Thursday, MSU President Charles Lee, who announced his retirement in November, said he would relinquish his role April 15.
Although College Board commissioner Tom Meredith said he decided not to release names of the candidates to protect their current jobs, several names of possible leading candidates have been mentioned in news articles and on Internet forums.
One is Mark Keenum, the chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran. Keenum, an MSU alumnus, was speculated to be a top candidate for the MSU presidency before Lee made the transition from interim president to president.
Keenum, a Starkville native, was formerly a professor at MSU. Near beginning of the search, he confirmed his candidacy.
Walter Wendler, the chancellor of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, is a second possibility. Wendler has been chancellor since July 2001.
In a March 20 article in the Daily Egyptian, the student newspaper of SUIC, Southern Illinois University president Glenn Poshard confirmed that Wendler is up for the position, although Wendler himself has neither confirmed nor denied the report.
Wendler, a native New Yorker, previously served in the administration and on the faculty of Texas A&M University.
If selected, Wendler, a graduate of Texas A&M, would join the ranks of other MSU administrators with backgrounds at A&M, including vice president for student affairs Bill Kibler, vice president for external affairs Dennis Prescott and associate vice president for academic affairs Ruth Prescott.
University of Nevada at Reno’s provost, John H. Frederick, has also been mentioned as a potential candidate. Frederick has chemistry degrees from Princeton and Harvard.
Frederick was not available for comment, and nobody in his office could confirm or deny his candidacy, his secretary said.
Robert Altenkirch, president of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, is another possible candidate. He previously served as vice president for research at MSU.
Jack Britt, the executive vice president at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, has been mentioned as a possible candidate but said he is not in the running for the position.
A March 7 article in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal mentioned Britt as a person “frequently mentioned as a leading candidate.”
Britt said Thursday that he had been contacted “some time ago” by the firm heading the search but that he is not seeking the position. “I’m happy in my position. I wish the folks at Mississippi State well,” he said.
Another man whose name came up, University of Louisiana at Monroe President Jim Cofer, said earlier this month that he withdrew his name from the running, the Daily Journal reported.
In his memo, Lee urged the MSU community to give the next president a chance. “The next president and his or her spouse will be fortunate to be associated with you, and we urge you to give them the chance to earn the affection and respect that we feel from you every day,” he said.
“We are doing everything we can to complete as much unfinished business as possible and to assure the smoothest possible entry for the next president,” Lee said.