By KBIA/AP
Columbia, MO – The University of Missouri board of curators met today in Columbia to begin the search for a new system president to replace Elson Floyd.
Board Chair Don Walsworth says Floyd has agreed to stay on until the transition period ends May 31, and the next step is hiring an executive search firm.
Floyd was named last month the new president of Washington State University.
Curators spent six hours yesterday meeting with three executive search firms, to help with the search process, after appointed themselves as the presidential search committee.
Walsworth says curators are negotiating with one of those companies and expect to make a selection in the next few days.
The ten curators who will approve the university's next President include three members recently appointed by Gov. Matt Blunt, and who were sworn in Thursday.
They are: Warren K. Erdman of Kansas City, Bo Fraser of Columbia and Judith Haggard of Kennett. Erdman once served as Sen. Kit Bond's chief of staff; Fraser is chairman of the board of Boone County National Bank; Haggard is a family nurse practitioner at SEMO Health Network.