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CARBONDALE, Ill. (AP) — Southern Illinois University's Carbondale campus within weeks likely will have a temporary replacement to Arizona-bound Chancellor Rita Cheng, the university system's president said.
Randy Dunn said he immediately plans to begin interviewing candidates who can fill the void soon to be left by Cheng, who earlier this month was named president of Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, WSIU radio (http://bit.ly/1wxZxo2) reported.
Dunn, who privately discussed the matter Tuesday during the university system's governing board's meeting in Edwardsville, said an interim chancellor should be chosen by the time the board next meets July 24 in Springfield.
Dunn has said Cheng, the Carbondale school's chancellor since 2010, is to start her new job in Arizona in mid-August and is expected to remain with SIU into next month.
A process for searching for Cheng's permanent successor will be sorted out after next month's board meeting, Dunn said, without offering any framework on how quickly that search might take.
"I think there was some willingness on the part of the board to spend some time with an interim, to look at many of the changes that have taken place on the campus and get those addressed before bringing a permanent chancellor in," Dunn said after Tuesday's meeting.
John Charles, SIU's director of government and public affairs, said Dunn indicated "he doesn't feel he or the board will be moving quickly" to permanently fill Cheng's seat.
Dunn was out of the office Wednesday and unreachable for comment by The Associated Press.
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Information from: WSIU-FM.
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