UM curators begin interviews for ensuing system president

University of Missouri curators will spend the next three days in a St. Louis hotel and law office interviewing candidates for the system’s presidency.

The confidential interviews are the first in a series of closed-door discussions that curators hope will culminate with a new president before the start of the fall semester, board chairman Don Walsworth said.

The sessions start tonight at the Adam’s Mark hotel in downtown St. Louis and continue Tuesday and Wednesday at the Thompson Coburn law offices. State law allows the curators to discuss personnel issues in private.

Another round of interviews is scheduled next week in Kansas City, according to Walsworth. He declined to specify the number of candidates under consideration.

The next president of the four-campus system replaces Elson Floyd, who left to become president of Washington State University.

Gordon Lamb, a Columbia resident and former president of Northeastern Illinois University, is interim president until a new hire arrives.