The Board of Trustees will hold a special meeting today to interview search firms that could help in finding Eastern’s next president.

The board plans to choose one of two firms to head the search, said Monty Bennett, director of the purchasing office.

“These search firms have a wealth of experience and expertise in helping and working with higher education institutions in finding the right person to be president,” he said.

The firm will do most of the fieldwork in the search, as well as work in conjunction with the Presidential Search Advisory Committee, Bennett said.

Blair Lord, Provost and vice president for academic affairs, said it would be good to choose a search firm with a national presence so that Eastern can interview presidential candidates from all over the country.

He expects the search process for a president to proceed as soon as possible.

“The timeline is snug so (the search committee) will have to move along fairly promptly,” he said. “But I’m confident they can do that.”

The 17 names of the Presidential Advisory Search Committee were due to the Board of Trustees chair Leo Welch by Monday, Oct. 2.

Jill Nilsen, vice president for external relations, expects Robert Webber, chair of the search committee and vice chair of the board, to announce the search committee’s next steps at today’s meeting.

“It’s an important time in the history of the university,” she said, adding that the board would like to be able to do on-campus interviews with candidates before the Spring 2007 semester is over.

“Ultimately, the responsibility of choosing the president is that of the boards,” Nilsen said, calling it one of the board’s most important responsibilities.

Today’s meeting will begin with an executive session at 10 a.m. at the Neal Welcome Center. One search firm will be interviewed during the open meeting at 10:45 a.m. and the other at 1:15 p.m. after the board resumes after a lunch break.