UI Should Select Interim Head Soon

State Board of Education President Curtis Eaton says an interim president for the University of Idaho should be selected by month’s end.

Eaton said a list will be quickly compiled of potential candidates to fill the job Elisabeth Zinser is leaving in mid-July to become chancellor at the University of Kentucky so the board can review at its meeting in two weeks.

“We’ll either do it at the meeting or shortly thereafter,” Eaton said.

With the announcement of Zinser’s new job being made on Thursday, Eaton said no specific candidates for interim president had surfaced yet. But he said the person selected will “be someone with close ties to the university.”

“Someone who would be able to keep the various programs, courses and colleges on an even keel with no backsliding,” he said.

The interim president will likely oversee university operations for the 1995-1996 school year since the typical search for a new president takes six to nine months.