The list of candidates for the University of Montana president's position has been narrowed from 99 to just 13.

Associate Commissioner of Higher Education, Kevin McRae said the search committee worked most of the day on Tuesday winnowing through the list provided by AGB Search by 86 candidates.

"They have identified 13 very strong semifinalists from the collection of 99 for the University of Montana presidency," McRae said. "Of the 99, 39 were nominated by others to apply, in other words, they did not apply themselves. 60 of the candidates did apply for themselves. Before the meeting on Tuesday, each of the committee members spent many hours going over the applications, so yesterday was an opportunity for them to discuss their findings."

McRea broke down the 13 finalists.

"Of the 13, nearly half are female, and there are also other elements of diversity in terms of EEO employment characteristics, including national origin and race, but I do not know how many were either from in-state or out of state."

McRae said a subset of the search committee will interview the 13 remaining candidates.

"They will be interviewed outside of Montana in off-site, neutral locations," he said. "After that, they will be focused on bringing to the community in September and October, an excellent pool of finalists. When that time arrives, the finalists will have a chance to meet with the community and the media with question and answer sessions."

The new president es expected to be announced and in place by the start of the second semester at the University of Montana.

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