The Board of Regents today is expected to pick an interim president for Southeast Missouri State University.

The regents are expected to make the announcement around 3:30 p.m. in the University Center Ballroom after they vote in a closed-door meeting slated for 3.

Dr. Robert Foster, who served as Southeast's president in 1989-90, said Thursday he won't be the interim president.

Foster had been rumored to be a likely candidate for the interim position because he had served as president when the university went through its last presidential search.

Search consultant Allan Ostar has said the regents could appoint someone from within the school as interim president or hire an outside person, such as a retired university president.

School officials said there are a number of retired university presidents around the country that serve as interim presidents.

The interim president will run the institution while a search is under way for a permanent president to replace Dr. Kala Stroup.

Stroup will leave at the end of August to become Missouri's commissioner of higher education.