University of Idaho President Chuck Staben, who was a finalist to become president of the University of New Mexico, didn’t get the job, with the UNM Board of regents selecting another candidate, Garnett S. Stokes; she’ll be the school’s first female president and currently is provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Missouri. The Lewiston Tribune reports that Staben was one of five finalists for the post; he declined to comment to the Tribune on Thursday.

"It was an opportunity he felt he needed to take for personal reasons," said University of Idaho spokeswoman Jodi Walker. "Now he is focused on doing the work here at the University of Idaho and continuing on as our president here. We have a lot of goals in front of us and he's going to lead us to those goals."

Staben is scheduled to deliver his State of the University address next week, writes Tribune reporter Josh Babcock; his full report is online here.