Jack Neely

Slippery Rock University on Friday narrowed the search for a new president to two recommended candidates who will be considered by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Board of Governors.

Chance Glenn, provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of Houston-Victoria in Victoria, Texas, and Karen Riley, provost at Regis University in Denver, will be interviewed by the state system board next week. A decision is expected early next year.

The SRU Council of Trustees approved Glenn and Riley as the candidates after they were recommended by SRU’s presidential search committee.

As of Monday, Dec. 5, the university narrowed the number of candidates to four from the 90 who applied for the position.

“We're very happy with the process and the diverse pool of candidates,” said Jeff Smith, SRU trustee and chairman of the search committee. “The candidates were well-represented by their different cultural, geographic and experiential backgrounds. This result demonstrated the depths the search committee went through to distill more than 90 candidates down to two.”

SRU has been searching for its next president since February, when President William Behre announced his retirement, effective June 30, 2023. Four candidates were on SRU's campus from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2 and met with several campus and community groups.

“The candidates were all impressed with the university, and as a committee, we were impressed with them,” Smith said. “It was a difficult decision but with the committee's perception and the feedback from the campus community we are confident with the recommendation and grateful for everyone's input.”

The committee hired RPA Inc., a Williamsport-based executive search and consulting firm, to assist in the search. The firm is assisting with contacting the constituency groups that the search committee is consulting to learn about what the groups would like to see in a new president.