The search for Eastern’s next president is down to three final candidates.

The Presidential Search Advisory Committee held off-campus interviews Feb. 27 and 28 to narrow the pool down from nine to three candidates.

“The committee selected the finalists in part on the basis of a match of the candidates values with the values that underlie the philosophy of teaching and learning that is now in place at Eastern Illinois University,” said Robert Webb, chair of the search committee and vice chair of the Board of Trustees.

After 14 hours of interviews, the committee agreed to bring the three remaining candidates to campus for on-campus interviews during the week of March 19.

“The candidates have been contacted and they have all agreed to accept the invitation to visit the campus,” Webb said. “At that time, the faculty, staff, students, administrators and the general public, as well as the Board of Trustees will have an opportunity to meet the candidates.”

Their names will be released on March 8 along with an expected schedule of events for the on-campus interviews.

Campus and community members are encouraged to fill out evaluation forms for the candidates during their visits to campus, which will be submitted to the committee, Webb said. The comments will be summarized and presented to the Board of Trustees. The Board will select and hire Eastern’s next president from the remaining three candidates.

Webb would not disclose much information about the final three candidates, but he did say that they all have a vision for the future of Eastern that the search committee liked.

“The candidates all have strong academic backgrounds in their chosen field of study and hold high ranking positions at universities in various parts of the country.”

He expects the Board of Trustees to announce their final decision by the end of March or beginning of April.