University of Missouri presidential search narrows to single candidate

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The search for the next University of Missouri president is down to a single finalist.

Several members of a 19-member advisory committee told The Associated Press the group plans to interview just one candidate Monday. A closed meeting was scheduled at Kansas City Southern, the employer of curator Warren Erdman.

"It's my understanding there's one finalist," said Jay Dade, who represents the university's alumni association on the interview committee. The panel consists of a group of professors, students, alumni, retirees and non-faculty employees from the university system's Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbia and Rolla campuses.

Committee members will pass their opinions to university curators, who have the final say. Curators are scheduled to meet in Kansas City next week.

The new president would replace Elson Floyd, who left Missouri in April for Washington State University's top job. Interim President Gordon Lamb continues to lead the four-campus system until a new president is hired.

The nine curators previously hoped to hire New Jersey businessman Terry Sutter, who rejected the offer in June to become chief operating officer of a Florida steel manufacturer. Rep. Kenny Hulshof, a Columbia Republican, was also a finalist during the initial search.

Curators subsequently changed the search process to require at least two interviews with finalists before the next offer.

It's not clear if the candidate to be interviewed Monday by the advisory group has already met twice with curators, but the board has convened twice in the past month to discuss the search after a prolonged period of inactivity.

University records obtained by the AP show that the board interviewed four candidates in St. Louis in early August.

At a board meeting in October, Lamb said he expected a replacement to arrive in Columbia by January.

According to a June 12 memo from board Chairman Don Walsworth outlining the revised search process, curators would offer the job to the group's second choice among finalists if it is again faced with a rejection by the top candidate.

That was not the case the first time around, when neither Hulshof nor a third finalist who was never publicly identified was offered the job.

Both he and Sutter are alumni of the Columbia campus. While such ties are not a requirement for the job, curators have said that they prefer a leader with an existing connection to the state and its university system.