Print edition: 
Wichita State University will probably have a new president in place to replace Don Beggs by July 1, the chairman of the Kansas Board of Regents said Monday.
But before that, people with Wichita and WSU ties will get to nominate a lot of people and propose a lot of ideas, said Ed McKechnie, chairman of the Board of Regents. McKechnie and other board leaders spoke on campus Monday to outline how a new WSU president will be selected:
A nominating committee of 15 to 20 people will be chosen by next month. Nearly all members will have strong ties to WSU. Picking members will be "a cross between working a Rubik's cube and herding cats," McKechnie said, because the committee must have diversity in membership reflecting the Wichita community and the WSU constituency.
A professional recruiting company will be hired. That company will work for the committee.
The committee will advertise for candidates and put together a pool of about 10 to 12 candidates to be interviewed by the committee.
The committee will narrow the list to three to five finalists.
The Kansas Board of Regents will interview those three to five people in Wichita and make a selection by late April or early May, putting the new president in place hopefully by July 1.
Those finalists will need to be people who can help lead and "lift" a university that has unique virtues, including a strong engineering school and strong ties to the Wichita business community, McKechnie said. And, in a quick-witted reference to one of WSU's nationally known sports programs, he said, "It would also help if this person likes baseball."
Though the Board of Regents will make the final selection, "we will pick only from that list of three to five candidates developed by the committee," he said.
Names of the candidates will be kept confidential until the finalist stage, he said. To do otherwise would be to jeopardize the careers of some people who might want to consider applying.
"This is a very big decision," he said. "It'll be a tough job replacing Don Beggs."
