The Presidential Search and Screening Committee is continuing its search for the next ISU president with the state Board of Regents’ approval of the proposed ISU presidential criteria.

Benjamin Allen, chairman of the committee, said the Board of Regents’ approval Wednesday evening was “a very important milestone” in the search, and the committee’s meeting today is the beginning of the selection process.

“[Today’s] meeting is an important meeting,” Allen said. “We have a lot of work yet to do to make this thing successful.”

Today’s meeting at 3:10 p.m. in Room 115 of the Office and Lab Building will be the third for the group, which is made up of faculty, administrators and students. The public can attend the meeting until the committee begins having closed sessions.

Allen said a discussion on the qualifications of ISU presidential candidates will be the focus of the search committee’s meeting today. Members have three goals, the first of which will be to set dates for the next few meetings.

“It’s not an easy task because we have 27 members,” said Allen, dean of the business college.

Allen said the committee also will review reports from various subcommittees before moving to a closed session, where committee members will discuss personal qualifications of the presidential candidates.

“It’s a preliminary review of the people who have expressed an interest in this position,” Allen said.

The committee is still in the “early stages of the review process,” he said, and finalists will not be submitted to the Board of Regents until late December or even early January.

Allen also said the Board of Regents may not release its selection of the new president until late January or early February.

David Hopper, chair of the subcommittee that submitted criteria to the Board of Regents, said he was very pleased by the approval.

Hopper, professor of veterinary diagnostics and animal studies, said committee members are not entirely responsible for the standards. People from “across the university community” added their thoughts through e-mails, letters and participation in open forums, he said.

Community participation “greatly strengthened” the criteria for the new president, Hopper said.

“The unanimous approval from the board is as much a credit to the community as it is to the committee who developed the standards,” he said.