BATON ROUGE -- The McNeese State University Presidential Search Committee will begin advertising nationally next month with an eye towards interviewing semi-finalists on campus in April. The committee met this week in Baton Rouge.

Advertisements for the top position at McNeese State University will appear in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, the Baton Rouge Advocate and the Lake Charles American Press, as early as March 7. The advertisement, adopted by the search committee on Thursday, names a priority application date of April 5, 2010.

The committee also approved the University of Louisiana System to engage search firm, R.H. Perry & Associates, to assist in identifying top candidates for the position. The Washington, D.C. firm has worked with public and private higher education institutions across the country including Centenary College of Louisiana, the North Dakota State University System and the University of Pittsburgh.

A tentative timeline has the search committee selecting semi-finalists early in April and conducting on-campus interviews in mid- to late-April. The search committee would then select at least two candidates to recommend to the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System.

The Board will conduct finalist interviews in Baton Rouge before naming a new president. This could take place as early as the regularly scheduled Board meeting on April 23, but could possibly happen in May or June. The goal is to have a new president for McNeese State University prior to the June 30 retirement of current president Robert Hebert.